Timeless
by Kuko-chan
Summary: Post-Hourglass fic. It's been a year since Future Sora, aka Sky, started a new life in Radiant Garden. Leave it to a bunch of terrorists to mess with his calm. And now he's falling in love again. Well that's just great. SkyxLeon, some RiSo
1. Chapter 1: Comeback

**A/N: **And so begins another story in the Hourglass timeline. This is a sequel to Hourglass taking place a few months later. You don't necessarily need to read Hourglass first, but it certainly helps to explain who some of the characters are and why they're doing the things they're doing. It also helps establish that there's a Sora from the future living in the past with the good folks of Radiant Garden.

**Important note:** Anytime I put _**ATL**_**, **it stands for Alternate Timeline, as in the timeline that Sky came from. Most of the time, it'll just be a general scene but sometimes it'll be a flashback that Sky is remembering. It'll be easy to spot because I'll be calling him 'Sora'. When I put **CTL**, it means Current Timeline, as in the timeline that Sky created by going back in time and altering things. That's the main timeline that I'll be writing about where all the action is happening. So keep an eye out for that so you don't get confused.

**Warnings**: Good ol' fashion swearing, suggestive themes, violence, the rape and murder of quantum physics, Heartless abuse, and random leaps through time. Be prepared. I had to mark this Rated T so it will show up in general search results for KH stories, but in the final chapter, I'll change it to Rated M.

**Timeless**

Chapter 1: Comeback

(_**May 30**__**th**__**, 2008 - ATL**_)

He knew, somehow, the exact moment it happened. He just knew. He was filled with dread and fear, followed quickly by a sharp pain in his heart. It nearly knocked him off his feet and stole his breath away. There was no physical evidence of his sudden condition, nor any logical explanation at the time to explain the wave of emotions overcoming him. It didn't matter that his brain was trying to tell him otherwise, because his heart knew the ugly truth.

Something horrible had happened.

He had stumbled blindly into the gummi shipyard, startling the two chipmunks manning the controls.

"Sora?" squeaked Chip. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't due to leave for another two hours."

"Any word from Riku yet?" Sora asked quickly, ignoring Chip's question.

"No," replied the chipmunk as he consulted his paperwork. "He left half an hour ago. He's only ten minutes late reporting in." Chip offered Sora a sympathetic smile. Sora's shoulders slumped. Anything could have happened in ten minutes…

"Could you let me know when he does?" His heart was thundering so hard, he was amazed he had managed to say that much without passing out. Chip and Dale saluted.

"Sir!"

Sora walked disheartened from the gummi shipyard, following the colonnade out of the garden and into the castle in the direction of the command centre. He had to go over a mission briefing with his crew, but he couldn't focus at all. His heart felt like it was dying and he had no idea why.

Halfway to the command centre, he stopped walking altogether, unable to think of anything besides Riku. That horrible feeling wouldn't go away. Turning on his heel, he began heading back to the shipyard. He promised himself that he'd only stay a little while, just until Riku reported in so it would calm his soul and give him peace of mind. He had never felt this worried or protective about the older man before.

Sora paced back and forth around the garden, waiting, anxious. Any minute now, he told himself, any minute now, Riku would report in and then Chip or Dale would let Sora know and he could go back to feeling relieved. It had been a little over an hour, which was hardly enough time to worry. So what if Riku was late reporting in? Maybe he got side-tracked. Maybe he forgot. Sora was confident that he'd be getting that good news in just a short moment.

But that good news never came. There was a sudden flurry of activity around him as people were running to the shipyard in a panic.

"What's going on?" he asked one of the passing soldiers.

"We got a distress signal from Highwind!" the soldier said. "It's coming in for a rough landing right now!"

"Highwind?" That was Riku's ship. Sora ran after them to the stairway leading underground to the shipyard.

Inside, they were just bringing in the heavily damaged gummi ship belonging to Riku and his team. The main hatch opened and a plump, balding man by the name of Pintel stumbled out, coughing and bleeding from a head wound. The other soldiers, wearing environmental suits designed to shield them from the deadly Versa-stigma plague, helped him to his feet and led him to solid ground where he could catch his breath. Sora waited expectantly for anyone else to exit Highwind, but no one else was aboard.

"Where is he?" he asked the only crew member present. "Where's Riku?" Pintel looked up and something in his eyes told Sora the truth he didn't want to believe.

"I'm sorry fer yer loss…" was all Pintel could offer. He was led away by a couple of healers, leaving Sora stunned and speechless.

"Wait!" he shouted, turning to stop Pintel from leaving. "What do you mean by my 'loss'? What happened?"

"Sora, what do you think you're doing?" a voice cried from the stairway leading to the garden. Sora spun around to see Aeris wearing her white medical suit, helmet in hand. "You're breaking Versa-stigma procedure! What if he's infected?" She rushed down the stairs to check on Pintel's head wound and take a sample of his blood to ensure he was disease-free. "Sora, I understand your concern, but this can wait until debriefing. He needs medical attention first."

"No, this can't wait! Where the hell is Riku?" Sora's harsh, demanding voice made a few of the personnel jump. Pintel shrugged off one healer and turned to face Sora.

"We were ambushed five minutes after disembarking," he said gruffly. "We didn't stand a chance. Riku… he was killed in the attack. I just barely made it out alive." Sora's blood ran cold and his breath caught in his throat. The shipyard went deathly quiet and the seconds ticked by slowly, feeling like an eternity. Sora's brain was slow to catch up with what the pirate had just said.

"He's…dead?" His voice warbled and came out meek and child-like. Pintel could only nod, trying his best to look sincere and apologetic. He allowed himself to be led away once more by the healers. Aeris watched him go and quickly turned to Sora.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," she whispered, taking his hand. "If there's anything you need, anything at all, please let me know." The young man remained motionless, staring off into space. "Sora, are you okay?" Aeris' face creased with worry. "Sora, say something."

"He's lying…" was all Sora could say. "He has to be. No stupid ambush could get Riku. This is a joke!" His eyes turned wild as he wrenched his hand out of Aeris' hands and rushed aboard Highwind. "He's here somewhere! I know it!"

"Sora!" Aeris shouted, following the distraught boy. "I don't think he was lying. Where else would Riku be? Why would he joke about something like this?"

"It's impossible!" Sora called from the cockpit. He was looking under the chairs and inside the bulkheads. "This isn't happening! Riku's not dead! He can't die!"

"You're in shock. You need to take a moment here. Please sit!" Aeris attempted to guide Sora into a chair, but he pushed her hands off him.

"I'm not in shock!" he roared. "If you're not going to help me find him, then go away!" Aeris backed away for a moment, stunned at his behavior and yet not entirely surprised. Some people reacted violently like this, refusing to accept a loved one's death, spending days or even months in denial. He would have to come to accept the news in his own time. There wasn't much she could do at the moment, so while Sora continued to search restlessly around the ship, Aeris briskly made her way to the control room and informed the command centre of Riku's demise.

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed King Mickey through the com system. "Riku was killed?" The line went quiet for a few seconds. When he spoke again, his voice was full of emotion. "This war with the Heartless…with Maleficent… It's claiming so many lives…" He took a shaky deep breath and struggled to continue speaking. "And Sora? How is he taking the news?"

"Not well…" Aeris admitted. "Although I wouldn't expect any less." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, feeling her heart break for her friend. "They were in love, after all."

King Mickey sighed sadly. "I know. Please keep an eye on him until Kairi returns from her mission in New Orleans." He sighed again and Aeris could almost imagine him holding the bridge of his nose. "I can't imagine what he must be going through right now."

Out in the shipyard, aboard the Highwind, Sora sat in the pilot's chair, shaking and staring into space, knees pulled up against his chest, eyes burning and breath coming in shallow gasps.

"He's not dead…" he whispered to himself, hugging his arms around himself. "He's going to come back… He promised…"

(**Sept. 21****st****, 2007 – CTL**)

It never even stood a chance.

The moment the shadow took on a solid form the size of a small child, its beady eyes adjusting, blinking, taking in its bearings, it was crushed under the luminescent weight of a Keyblade.

"14!" declared a haughty voice smugly. "Better catch up, Leon! You're falling behind!" The owner of the Keyblade smirked, his blue eyes shining with intensity, his brown spiked locks swaying slightly in the breeze.

"I'm only 3 behind you," Leon huffed, eyeing their surroundings carefully for enemy activity. He wasn't normally a competitive person, but there was something about his companion that brought out the worst in him. "You wouldn't be so cocky if you didn't have that Keyblade, Sora."

"The name's Sky," the Keyblade Master corrected automatically, a slight snap in his voice. Even after living in the past for the last year and a half, people still occasionally called him by his old name.

"When are you going to drop that alias? The war's over and your younger self went home six months ago."

"When will you drop the name Leon, Squall?" Sky countered. Leon clammed up.

"Touché." It had been nearly 15 years since he had started going by the name Leon, abandoning his original name as a way to atone for his mistakes and inability to save Radiant Garden the first time it was overrun by Heartless. It had been so long that he had grown used to the name Leon and it stuck.

"Exactly." They walked in silence for a few minutes up an empty Radiant Garden street. The homes they passed by were locked tight and spelled against Heartless invasion for the protection of the citizens, courtesy of Sky. The concept of Heartless still remaining throughout the universe was an inevitable one – so long as darkness existed, there would always be Heartless. Six months ago, they had been given the option to rewrite the universe to allow it to exist without the need for darkness, but it had been agreed that no one should have the right to decide something that huge.

Sky and Leon paused only when they thought they heard a noise down an alleyway. A tiny Heartless shadow scrambled by, taking cover under a park bench. Sky took aim and fired a minor thunder bolt at it, dissolving its form back into darkness. "Fuck, yes! This is actually relaxing!"

Leon chuckled quietly at Sky's behaviour. "You know, I still remember the day we met. You were this scrawny-ass kid with an oversized key that you didn't know how to use." Sky frowned and lightly punched Leon in the shoulder. That caused the older man to chuckle louder.

"Don't remind me. That was ten years ago by my perspective." Sky smiled wistfully at the memory. "I can't believe how much time has passed."

"For you, maybe, but for me, it's only been four and a half years." Leon observed Sky from out of the corner of his eye. "I know you're from the future and all, but it still gets a little… strange, seeing you way older than I remember."

"You're not used to it by now?" Sky laughed, clapping Leon over the shoulder. "I'm only 4 years younger than you now! Ha!" Leon cracked a grin.

"Do you ever still… think about your past?" The air seemed to suddenly sober up as Sky looked contemplative.

"All the time." Truth was, he didn't want to think about it. There was still too much pain revolving around his past, and he preferred to learn from it rather than wallow in it. What's done is done and there was no point in going crazy over it. They walked in a more comfortable silence for a few more minutes, pausing when they saw another shadow forming. Leon fired a shot off from his Gunblade before Sky could steal the kill.

"12." Sky was about to make a quip when his radio crackled with life.

"Sky and Leon, come in," said the gruff voice of Cid. Sky gave Leon a look that said 'I'll get back to you' as he flipped a switch on his walkie-talkie.

"This is Sky; go ahead, Cid," he said into the wireless headset attached to his ear.

"We're just about finished fixing the system here, standby to confirm." A few seconds later, there was a resounding noise throughout the whole city as small short pillars of light shot out of the ground across Radiant Garden. "Status?"

"Looks like it's back online," Sky confirmed. "Standby, we'll wait for a Heartless to show up." He nodded at Leon and they waited patiently for a shadow to pop up. When it did, it was struck down by an automated security drone that emerged from a beam of light. "Looks good, Cid. We're coming back in." He flipped the switch on his com to shut it down and began trekking back towards Castle Luminous with Leon close behind.

"I still can't believe we were struck with a virus," Leon muttered. "I thought we were clean."

"It's recently uploaded, that's for sure. Cid'll probably have it figured out by now." It was an early morning when Sky had been informed that Heartless were spotted across the city and the security drones weren't going online to stop them. While Cid frantically diagnosed the computer system and attempted to write an anti-virus program, it became Sky and Leon's job to scour the city of enemy threats and eliminate them. Not a hard job, all things considered, but still bothersome nonetheless. It was now late evening.

In the silence that came with their walk back towards the castle, Sky reflected on the last six months of his life. They had defeated Maleficent, ridding the universe of the biggest threat it's ever known. They had brought the residents of Radiant Garden back to their homes from Disney Castle where they had been relocated to during the final battle. They had spent a couple months aiding in reconstruction efforts across multiple worlds, including Traverse Town, which had been mostly destroyed during the war. And then Sky had taken up a permanent residence in Radiant Garden.

He still kept in contact with Sora, Riku, and Kairi via letters left in the ocean for them to find, but for the most part, he was trying to distance himself from them. They had their lives and he had his.

But now he was stuck in an unusual rut. He had no idea what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. When he was 18, he had aspirations of being involved in astrophysics and astrology, but that seemed like a lifetime ago. He was certain he couldn't remember anything from high school anymore. None of his math or science classes seemed to matter when he was fighting for his life against an unstoppable evil. All he knew now was how to fight and survive. It was difficult adjusting to living in a peaceful world again.

"Hey, you okay?" Leon said, snapping Sky out of his reverie.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine…" He looked heavenward, still wondering what the future held for him. When he had settled into Radiant Garden, they had set him to work as the head of the security detail in and around Radiant Garden. The Heartless threat may have passed, but the Righteous Hearts movement was still very much active and the Restoration Committee could use all the help they could get. But then what? What would happen after the Righteous Hearts were rounded up? Sky felt like he lacked a purpose now. He honestly hadn't expected to be around this long. He had figured once his mission was complete and the timeline altered, he would fade away along with his nightmare of a future.

"If you say so…" Leon muttered, not at all convinced by Sky's noncommittal answer. "I guess that's why they call you 'Sky', 'cuz that's where your brain is all the time." Sky grinned, giving Leon a shove.

"Very funny."

After a short amount of time, Leon and Sky arrived in the security control room where Cid was typing up a storm, likely re-writing security protocols in the computer's system to prevent another attack. They watched him silently for a few seconds, amazed at how fast his fingers were moving across the keyboard.

Sky finally broke the trance by saying, "Find anything on the source of the virus?" Cid stopped typing midway through a line of code and turned to face Sky, cracking his knuckles as he did so and retrieving the lit cigarette from his mouth after a long drag.

"I think so," he said gruffly, rubbing his nose absentmindedly. "It was buried under a few essential subroutines, almost impossible to track. I had to be careful not to tamper with the code 'cuz that shit's connected to the security root-"

"Spare me the techno-babble; it's going right over my head," Sky interrupted, holding his forehead as if Cid's words were causing a migraine. "Bottom-line it for me. Can you track it back to where it came from?"

"In short, no," Cid hissed, annoyed that his explanation was cut short. "Although, judging by the virus' code, it's a lot like the one that was hidden in Disney Castle's security system. I used Lewis Robinson's anti-virus program to kill the virus here."

"Great, a comeback-virus." Sky sighed, annoyed that things were coming back to bite him in the ass. "Can you make sure it doesn't happen again?"

"Yes, I was just finishing up new security algori-"

"Good, that's all I need to know." Sky turned to leave.

"Wait a sec! There's something else!" Sky stopped mid-stride and turned to narrow his eyes at Cid. It had been a long day of picking off Heartless drifters across the city and all he wanted now was to go home, take a long hot shower to wash the stench of darkness off his skin, and collapse in his bed for a 7 hour coma. "Take a look at this," Cid grumbled, typing in a command on his console to load up a video clip. "Someone sent us this video by hacking into our network and uploading it directly into the main server. It was piggy-backed on the virus. Whoever sent this wanted us to see it."

"Or they wanted us to know exactly how much power they have over us," Leon added. The video loaded and began playing automatically.

In the video, there were three masked figures holding pulse rifles standing in front of a banner that read "Righteous Hearts". The one standing in the centre appeared to be the leader. When he spoke, it was loud and bold, like he believed without a shadow of a doubt that he was the most important man in the world and his words should be heeded.

"This message of warning goes out to the self-proclaimed Restoration Committee-turned tyrants of Radiant Garden, our 'saviours' in the recent war."

Sky frowned upon hearing the voice. "I know that voice from somewhere…" he whispered more to himself than anyone else in the room.

"We, the Righteous Hearts, do not share your optimism of the future of our world under your rule. As we have told you several times before, you would be wise to step down as the leaders of our world and allow the Righteous Hearts to take command."

"Pfft," Leon huffed. "Kinda hard to take orders from a guy who's too cowardly to show his damn face."

"We are the ones responsible for the recent attack on your defence network and we are more than capable of doing worse damage, sending our fair world into a state of chaos if only to prove your unworthiness as current leaders, your failure to prevent attacks from within your own administration, and your inability to protect your citizens. You have five days to make the necessary preparations of stepping down or we will unleash our next attack." The video abruptly ended.

Cid, Leon, and Sky sat there, speechless, unable to believe that the Righteous Hearts would actually dare threaten their own world just to prove that they could do a better job running it. Sky was the first to break the silence with his trademark expletive.

"Ah, fuck…" he muttered, already feeling his headache getting worse by the second. "You gotta be kidding me…"

A/N: I hope this first chapter has whetted your appetite for more. I always wanted to elaborate more on Sky's personality and past. Special thanks to Mutantpenguins and EternalDreamer for proofreading and beta-reading my story! You would not believe the rough shape it was in before they came along! :D


	2. Chapter 2: Not? Accepting Help

a/n: Thank you to those who have left kind reviews thus far. I just want to clarify one thing here. LeSo is not my OTP, RiSo is. But someone had suggested that Sky, unlike Sora, would be suitable for Leon, and I happen to agree. Sky is very different from his younger self. With that in mind, please continue reading and enjoy!

**Timeless**

Chapter 2: (Not?) Accepting Help

(**Sept. 21****st****, 2007 – CTL**)

"Get the Delegates and Senators on the line!"

"Send out patrols! Catch these fuckers!"

"Where did that video originate? Find the source!"

"What the FUCK, man! How is attacking civilians going to get their point across?"

"Tell the rest of the Restoration Committee about this! We need to find these guys fast!"

"Will you two calm down and shut up?" Cid roared, getting to his feet and silencing Leon and Sky instantly. "I'm already ten steps ahead of both of you! The Senators and Delegates are being informed via messages through their phones as we speak, and a group of private security guards have been dispatched to their homes to ensure their safety. Sazh is heading up a security team to search the castle. Tifa, Aeris, and Yuffie are on their way now. I'm also running a program to trace the source of the video, but it's going to take some time. We'll catch these guys soon enough, so relax."

There was a pregnant pause as Sky and Leon absorbed this information before visibly relaxing.

"Ah…" Sky murmured. He had nearly forgotten how efficient Cid was in a crisis. "Sorry…"

"Damn right you are!" Cid took a drag from his umpteenth cigarette. "Now piss off, you two. You've done enough work for today; let us take it from here." He turned his swivel chair around and began typing madly on the keyboard to begin running a diagnostic on the whole computer system and servers. For once, Sky didn't feel needed. It was an unusual feeling, and it didn't settle well in the pit of his stomach. Shrugging, he turned around and left the room, leaving Cid to do his work and Leon to do whatever it was he did on his off-days.

Sky walked the halls of Castle Luminous, eager to leave for the night and go home. It had been a long day and he was simply exhausted. The Heartless threat had been small, not enough to really worry about, not like with Maleficent's Heartless, but it was still annoying enough that he just wanted to sleep. Any sight of Heartless was enough to bring back bad memories and with the war over, he didn't want to think about his past anymore. Still, it always had a way of creeping back up on him.

"Sky!" called Leon from down the hallway. "Hey, wait up!" He jogged to catch up to the Keyblade Master, falling in step with him. "Heading home?"

"Yeah," Sky grunted, rubbing out the back of his neck. "I'm about ready to just fuckin' pass out. It's _way_ past my bedtime." He smirked at his own joke. Leon shrugged casually.

"You sure? It's Wednesday night." There was a long pause as Sky remembered what that meant.

"Oh shit! Right!" He pressed a hand to his forehead. "We got our training session tonight."

"It's fine if you're too tired…"

"No, I made you a deal. I would show you how to do advanced Light magic in exchange for the secret behind your Renzokuken." The Renzokuken was a special attack that Leon knew how to do with his Gunblade. It was one of the few attacks that Sky didn't know how to defend against, so he was determined to learn its secrets. He smirked again, nudging Leon in the ribs. "Don't think you can get out of our deal that easily." Leon raised his hands as if to say 'I wouldn't dream of it'.

It wasn't long before the two men were sitting in the castle's training grounds, a grand hall that had been converted for the free use of soldiers and martial artists alike. It was like a cross between a gymnasium and a zen garden. There were special sections designated for meditation, while others were designated for sparring.

Sky and Leon sat cross-legged in the centre of the training grounds, their eyes closed and their breathing even. It was completely still, the only sound penetrating the air being the occasional cricket or deep sigh as Leon slipped into a meditative trance.

"Breathe in through the nose and exhale out through the mouth," Sky whispered, opening his eyes a crack to ensure that Leon was on the right path. It was amazing how, once upon a time, Leon was the one giving the advice and teaching a young Sky how to do advanced sword-fighting, skills that would later save his life countless times. Now he was the master passing along his skills to Leon. Funny world they lived in.

Once he was sure that Leon was in the proper state of mind, Sky crawled behind the older man and sat down, gently placing his hands on Leon's shoulders. "You're going to reach down into your heart and pull out the necessary Light to form a Door, but you're going to stop just before the Door forms, okay?"

"I think I understand…" Leon murmured, instinctively leaning back. He took a deep breath and began concentrating on the Light in his heart, already somewhat familiar with creating a Door to the Corridors of Light. Just before a Door fully formed, he stopped the flow of magic and let it linger in front of him, like a white ball of fire in midair. "Now what?"

"Make it higher," Sky instructed. The ball of Light rose up into the air. "Expand it so it forms a disk above our heads." The ball began flattening out until it was a wide disk of Light roughly 5 meters wide. "Good. Now here's the tricky part." Reaching forward carefully over Leon's shoulder and down his chest, Sky placed one hand over Leon's heart to assist in the magic. "You're going to throw a bit of _Blizzard_ up there to mingle with the Light."

Leon's facial features seemed to strain and flinch with the effort of combining two magical arts together. "Just relax," Sky said. "You can do whatever you like with your Light if you just focus." There was a puff of air as Leon released a breath he didn't realise he was holding, and then the disk of white Light in the air began turning a faint blue. "You almost got it. Just a bit more…" Sky's hand unconsciously flexed against Leon's chest, adding just a touch of his own magic to help Leon get the hang of it.

After nearly a minute, it began snowing inside the training grounds. Leon opened his eyes and marvelled at the sight, almost unable to believe he was the one responsible. He held his hand out, catching a bit of the cold fluff and watching as it melted upon contacting with his warm skin. Sky grinned at the snow flakes making a gentle decent from the ceiling to the floor.

"Add of bit of Aero and you got yourself a Squall."

"Ha, ha."

"But seriously, just add a touch of other spells and you can create a multitude of attacks. Imagine a thunderstorm, or fireballs raining down from the sky. Where I'm from, we learned to take out as many enemies as possible in the least amount of time and mana." Sky relinquished his hold on Leon's shoulders and stood up, stretching out sore muscles. It took a beat for Leon to get up as well, still astounded by the snowfall. After a few more seconds, he waved his hand to dismiss the magic and let the snow stop.

"So, ready for a lesson in how to control a gunblade?" he said, already heading toward the locker room where his Gunblade, Revolver, lay in wait.

"Nah, let's call it a night…" Sky grabbed his towel from the bench and wiped his face down, a heavy drowsy feeling taking over. Leon stopped mid-stride and stiffened, as if disappointed. "I know, I know, I'm a buzz kill. But I need to sleep. I've been on edge for days." Sky laughed sharply, walking towards the locker room to pack up his things and leave. "I feel like an old man sometimes…"

"Really? That's too bad 'cuz the Restoration guys were planning on meeting up at 7th Heaven for a few drinks. Interested?" Sky slowed his step as he considered Leon's invitation. It would be nice to have a few drinks to wind down, but he still felt a little weird being around people who had died several years ago by his perspective in his old timeline. Plus, there was that nagging sleepy feeling that was beckoning him to his bed.

"Some other time, okay?" he answered reluctantly. Leon seemed to sag just the slightest.

"C'mon, Sky, you hardly ever hang out with us. You used to be so social, making friends so easily."

Sky stopped walking abruptly. "Maybe it's because all my friends died…" It came out as a faint whisper, as if he hadn't really intended for Leon to hear him. He didn't want to feel sorry for himself, especially since the dark threat was no more, but it was hard sometimes to forget the horrible things that had happened to him. He just wasn't ready to let go and move on.

"Dilly dally, shilly shally," Leon murmured. Sky stirred at those words.

"What?"

"It's something Aeris told me when we first arrived in Traverse Town. I was so upset about losing my home and all my friends, but she told me that living in the past wasn't going to bring them back. I had to move forward if I wanted to make a difference. So I did. I stopped dilly-dallying." He smiled, clapping Sky on the shoulder. "Maybe you should too." He very rarely said more than a sentence at a time, so it must've been truly profound advice he was giving. Sky figured he'd be wise to heed it. With that, Leon turned and began walking down the hall, waving at Sky as he left. "Goodnight, Sora."

"That's Sky!" Sky called after the older man. Sometimes he thought Leon did it on purpose to irritate him. "Goodnight, Squall!" He could have sworn he heard Leon chuckle.

Sky's apartment wasn't too far of a walk away from the castle, since his job required him to be on call at all times of the day and night. It was nice, but it was isolating at the same time. His friends lived more in the heart of Radiant Garden's commercial district, so the only time he ever saw them was occasionally in the castle. It didn't help that they had had hectic busy schedules.

And yet, he found himself often turning down their offers to hang out and he wasn't sure why. Certainly he was tired tonight, but there were other nights where he would have nothing else to do and he still refused to go out with them. And every time, Leon would always look so disappointed, having been the one who would ask him all those times. Sky didn't mean to disappoint them, but he just felt odd hanging around them, like sitting in a room full of ghosts and bad nightmares. It evoked too many memories that he felt were better left buried. One might've asked why he chose to live in Radiant Garden at all. He had no answer for that.

Arriving at his front door, he fished out his keys from his pocket and unlocked the front door, pushing his way in with a heavy groan. The lights were off inside and it was cool and silent. Sky paused at the threshold of his door, simply staring into his empty apartment, and for the first time in a while, he felt lonely. Every night was the same. He came home to an empty house. No one was waiting for him. Looking over his shoulder, he briefly considered heading back out to meet up with Leon and the others at Tifa's bar, but thought better of it. Instead, he shut the door behind himself.

Dinner was a quick and lazy effort of microwaved hotdogs without the buns or toppings. His shower lasted longer than it took to eat. He stood under the cascading water, letting the heat of the water cleanse his skin and ease his troubled mind, imagining how the clear liquid swirling down the drain was all his negativity and darkness getting sucked away, never to be seen again. He allowed his thoughts to drift to the new threat to Radiant Garden's peace, the Righteous Hearts.

In his timeline, they had been rounded up and sentenced to life imprisonment, but he couldn't remember for the life of him who had captured them or where they were hiding out. All he knew was that it had happened sometime after he had been kidnapped and rescued from their headquarters. The rest was all a blur. He supposed none of that mattered since everything was different now. He would just have to capture them all over again.

After drying off and changing into a simple pair of black boxers, he sat on the edge of his cold bed, soundless and unmoving. It was only in the middle of the night, on nights like this, where he felt the faint grief of his loss creep into the borders of his life once more. He looked over his shoulder, a habit he had picked up many years ago, half-expecting to see a figure lying in bed, a wisp of silver hair, half-expecting to hear a deep soft voice telling him everything would be okay. But even in the pitch black darkness of his room, he knew he was all by himself. He would never find his dead lover lying next to him.

Sky sighed heavily as he lay down and drew the covers up to his chest. He would never have Riku the way he did before.

Sometimes he wondered why he had never faded away with the rest of his timeline. Sometimes he wished he had.

(_**May 30**__**th**__**, 2008 – ATL**_)

"Sora?" called the muffled voice of Kairi beyond the door. "Sora, I know you're in there! Please open the door!" Silent seconds ticked by where Sora pretended he couldn't hear Kairi. The banging continued. "Sora, please!" The brunet slipped deeper under the covers until his spiked locks were no longer visible.

There was sharp sound outside the room accompanied by a whistling wind noise and the lock on the door glowed brightly for a moment before unlocking by itself. The door opened and Kairi walked in, holding a new dagger-sized Keyblade that resembled Riku's Soul Eater. She was wearing a look of complete and utter misery upon her face, tears still streaking down her cheeks. Sora spared her one glance before sinking under the covers once more.

"They told me what happened," she whispered, her voice wavering. "I'm so sorry!"

"Stop it!" Sora shouted, springing up in bed. "Stop lying! He's not dead! _There is no proof!_" Kairi could only gape in shock and hurt, unable to summon words to respond. Sora huffed and threw off the bed covers, stomping towards the door. "You all should have more faith in him. He can't be taken down that easily."

"Sora, wait!" Kairi reached for his arm but he pulled out of her grasp. "Listen, I know it's hard to accept, but he's gone! He never reported in! We have a witness who saw everything! He's…" She took a sudden sharp intake of breath as a fresh wave of tears spilled from her eyes. Her throat constricted as she was overcome by emotions. "I wish it wasn't true too…But he's just…gone… I'm sorry…" Sora watched her carefully, trying to read her, trying to listen to what she was saying but unable to accept the truth. It felt like his brain was trying to shut down on him.

"No…" he whispered, reaching blindly for the doorknob. "No, I won't believe it…" He opened the door and backed out, eyes still trained on Kairi. "I _refuse_ to believe it." With that, he stormed from the room and down the hallway, ignoring Kairi's pleas to stop.

"Sora, please! I want to help you!"

(**Sept. 22****nd****, 2007 – CTL**)

Sky was slow to wake up, clinging to the remnants of a dream or a memory. He could have sworn he could still hear Kairi's voice crying in his ears but quickly realised it was his cell phone across the room ringing at him. Once his brain was functioning at the correct speed, he bolted out of bed and grabbed the phone out of his pants pocket where he had haphazardly dumped them the night beforehand. Despite his quick reflexes, he just barely missed the call and had to wait for the person on the other side to leave a voice message. Once he was certain enough time had passed, he played back the message and instantly recognized Cid's gruff tired voice on the line.

"Got some good news, kid," he said. Sky could almost imagine him taking a pause to take a drag from his cigarette and scratch his nose. "I was up all night and I managed to trace the virus origin. You're not gonna like this, though. It was uploaded from a terminal inside the castle, meaning we got ourselves a mole. Come on in when you get the time." The message ended. Sky groaned. Cid was right. He didn't like this one bit.

After managing to dress himself in a pair of jeans, a white tank top and a black open button-up shirt over that, Sky made his way over to Castle Luminous to sort out what was going. A mole within the Restoration administration was not a good thing, but it meant they were one step closer to bringing in the rest of the Righteous Hearts and preventing another attack. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he entered the security control room. True enough to Cid's word, the older man looked like he hadn't slept yet, dressed in the same clothes that Sky had left him in the night before.

"There you are, kid!" Cid said. "You get my message?"

"Yeah," Sky grunted. "So we got a mole? How do I find him?"

"It's not that simple. All I was able to figure out was that one of our terminals was accessed to drop the virus. Doesn't mean I know who was using that terminal. But I think I know who might be able to help us out." Cid paused, likely for dramatic effect, pointing at the large red iris mounted on the wall beside them. Sky followed his line of sight.

"Tron?"

"Tron. He monitors all input and output data. I've been working on a program for him that should upgrade his anti-virus detection skills. If it works the way I hope, we'll be able to trace back which terminal was accessed and what user was using it." Sky held his head, not understanding half of what Cid just said. He was about to tell the old man off when Leon walked into the room.

"Got your call, Cid," he said. "What's this about a mole in our administration?"

"Long story short, we're going to use Tron to help us track down the mole."

"Oh sure," Sky scoffed. "Give _him_ the short version and give _me_ the techno-babble."

"If you're up for a trip into the Space Paranoids, it'll make things go a lot faster," Cid pressed on, ignoring Sky's rantings. Leon nodded. "Good. You two, stand by the iris and I'll drop you in." Cid began typing up a storm on his keyboard while Sky and Leon stood side by side in front of the red iris.

"I'll warn you," Sky said quietly to his companion. "The first time's always a bitch." As the words left his lips, the iris came to life and fired a beam at the two men, converting them into data and uploading them into the world of the Space Paranoids.

When the conversion was complete and the two men were standing in digital form within the computer system, Leon swayed uneasily on his feet, feeling distinctly light-headed from the process.

"Easy," Sky said, steadying his friend. "What'd I tell ya?"

"It's funny," Leon muttered as he regained his balance. "We've had this computer system for years, and this is the first time I've actually been in here." He took a long look around, marvelling at the sight of the glowing neon walls and the flashing lights. That's when he noticed his own clothes had gotten flashier and there was a small headset on his head.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Sky said with a hint of excitement. If there was one thing he liked doing, it was sharing experiences with someone who had never done it before.

"Ah, welcome, users!" said a voice behind them. Sky and Leon turned to see Tron standing there with his arms wide in a welcoming gesture. The computer sprite blinked a few times, staring at Sky in wonder. "Sora, is that you? Goodness, you've grown! Has my central processing unit malfunctioned or has _that_ much time passed on the outside?" Leon coughed to cover up his laugh while Sky groaned, placing his palm on his face.

"No, I'm Sky," the Keyblader explained. "Didn't you get the information from the war?" Tron seemed to glaze over as he accessed that part of his hard drive before returning to normal.

"Ah yes, I remember," he said, smiling. "You're from the future. My apologies." He turned to Leon. "And you must be the system admin, Squall Leonhart." Now it was Sky's turn to suppress a chuckle while Leon grimaced.

"Actually, it's just Leon," he said. "I don't go by the name Squall anymore." Tron looked thoroughly confused.

"You users are a peculiar bunch with your designations." He shrugged it off. "Shall we discuss the reason you're here? Cid uploaded a program for me to trace back a recent virus. I can get right to work, if you'd like."

"Run us through it," Sky said, gesturing Tron to lead the way. The trio began walking towards the main core.

"It's a very simple process, actually. We're basically retracing the virus' footsteps backwards until we reach the terminal where it originated. Then I'll run my program and it will filter out the last user to upload anything." Retrieving a data disc from the main core, Tron punched a few buttons and a glowing path appeared at their feet. "There we go. Now we just follow the path." He began walking along the glowing path as it led out of the main core and down a corridor. Sky began wondering if it was really necessary for him and Leon to enter the Space Paranoids at all. It looked like Tron had it well under control by himself.

Just as the thought was crossing his mind, there was a sudden flurry of pixel data in front of them, taking the form of a Heartless. The trio got into defensive positions.

"Remnants of the virus," Tron said darkly. "It's a replica of the one that infected our system at Disney Castle during the war." The digital Heartless let out a screech that disoriented the humans, but Tron remained unaffected. He held his hands in front of him and fired a pulse of energy at the Heartless, deleting it from the system.

"I think I see now why we're needed," Sky grumbled, shaking his head out. They resumed walking down the hallways, encountering more minor digital Heartless along the way, but the virus spawns were dealt with easily enough. Finally, they reached the end of the path where a terminal was. Tron loaded the disc into the drive and waited only a moment for the program to load. It displayed a page's worth of code, much of which was gibberish to Sky, but what he did understand was the username.

"According to the report," Tron explained. "User #44125, clearance level Beta, was the one responsible for uploading the virus and video file to the server." Sky ignored Tron, reading the name for himself.

"Our mole is none other than Lucrecia Crescent," he murmured. "Why does her name sound so familiar…?"

"Lucrecia?" Leon repeated disbelievingly. "She certainly has the clearance to access sensitive files and sections, but she's been with us since the start of the Restoration Committee's creation! She's a brilliant scientist who's been helping us adapt all the old technology with the Heartless tech that Maleficent put in the castle. Why would she be working for the Righteous Hearts?"

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Who knows how long the Righteous Hearts have been opposing the Restoration Committee? Or maybe she turned sometime down the line. Either way, we have to find her and take her in for questioning."

"According to the sign-in chart, she didn't report in for work today," Tron said.

"Then we have even less time than I thought," Sky snapped. "Thanks for your help, Tron."

"Anytime, Sor- I mean, Sky. Come visit again soon." Sky and Leon saluted as they activated the terminal to take them back to the real world. Pixel by pixel, their forms returned to the security control room where they had left Cid. The older man didn't need to be told of the situation, having monitored it from the outside, and was already taking the liberty of loading up camera feeds all over the city to track down where Miss Lucrecia Crescent had disappeared to.

"I got facial recognition program running on all the CCTV in the city," he said, pointing to the active monitors. "If she so much as steps foot outside her house for a smoke, we'll find her. I also got the security footage from the last few days. If we rewind to the last time she was in castle, we can track where she went from there. But it's going to take some time to sift through dozens of tapes." Sky nodded approvingly. He retrieved a print-off image of Lucrecia's face and information. Squinting, he wondered if he'd seen her face before, perhaps walking down the street in the opposite direction or somewhere in the castle while she was working.

Shrugging off the déjà vu feeling, Sky said to the others, "I'll run foot traffic detail, see if a little door-to-door questioning gets us anywhere."

"She's probably not even in the city anymore," Leon muttered. "After pulling a stunt like hacking into our security system and loading a virus? It was only a matter of time before we figured out it was her and she knows it. She's probably halfway to Fantasia by now." He shook his head slowly, running his fingers through his hair in a nervous fashion. "I still can't believe she'd do that. She seemed like such a good person…"

"Alright, let's move out then. Get Yuffie and Tifa on it. Leon, you're with me. We'll check her place first." Cid nodded and began making calls as Sky and Leon left the security room at a brisk pace. They both understood they had a limited window of opportunity to catch Lucrecia before she vanished off the grid, if she hadn't already.

Hitting the open outdoors, Sky inhaled deeply, trying his best to focus on the task at hand, but finding it difficult. The name "Lucrecia" stirred something in his subconscious. He knew the name but he couldn't remember where from. He definitely hadn't heard it from Leon or the others. There were so many new members of the Restoration administration that Sky couldn't keep track of them all. No, he knew the name from his old timeline. It was buried in his memories and he just couldn't grasp at it.

"Hey," Leon said beside him. "Keep alert. She could be anywhere." Sky wanted to snap at Leon but felt his voice die before it reached his lips. Leon was right; he needed to stay focused. The problem was they didn't even know where to begin. Putting out a news broadcast would only alert Lucrecia to the fact that she was being hunted, but how else were they supposed to inform the citizens that a terrorist was on the loose? On second thought, perhaps it wasn't a good idea to tell the people that. The last thing they needed was panic on the streets. Sky knew the Righteous Hearts wanted a little panic and chaos. It would give them the opportunity to sweep in and claim the leadership position, citing the recent attacks as proof that the Restoration Committee was incapable of dealing with a crisis.

Leon and Sky walked in silence as they entered Radiant Garden's bustling downtown, their eyes trained on the faces of every person they passed. Sky glanced at the print-off in his hands, looking over the information and the address listed. She didn't live too far from the Borough. The walk from the castle to her house took less than half an hour, even with the amount of speed-walking they were doing. As they stood outside her door, Sky and Leon had a silent debate about whether or not they should knock or just bust down the door.

"If we knock, she'll run," Sky hissed, his voice just barely audible.

"We can't just go barging into her house," Leon countered, not much louder than Sky. "She's a Radiant Garden citizen and she has rights. We'd need a warrant to enter her home without her consent."

"She's a fucking traitor to this world! She doesn't deserve rights!"

"Shh!" Leon waved his hand at Sky's increased volume, nearly smacking Sky's shoulder. "Innocent until proven guilty." With that, he knocked on the door. Sky rolled his eyes and folded his arms in a petulant child-like manner. They waited patiently (more like Leon waited patiently while Sky made 'tut' noises) until it became apparent that either Lucrecia wasn't interested in answering her door or she wasn't home.

"Thank you, you just wasted five fucking minutes," Sky snapped, already backing up to kick in the door.

"Hey, wait—" The ground shook as Sky's foot connected with the brittle wood, knocking it off its hinges and sending bits of woodchips and splinters across the ground. The sound echoed down the street and several birds screeched, fleeing the nearby trees. "You idiot! If she was home before, she's probably taken off now!" Sky ignored Leon and stalked into the house. They both went quiet as they took in the emptiness of the barren rooms, the lack of furniture and presence of a human being. It appeared as though Lucrecia hadn't lived in this home for a long time.

"She's cleaned out the place," Sky growled, kicking the woodchips across the hallway. "Shit!"

"If she ever lived here at all," Leon added. He looked around what should have been the living room, noting the dust on the floor and walls and the stale unlived smell of drywall.

"So this was a decoy house? Dammit, we're wasting our time here. Let's hit the streets and see if we can find someone who knew her. One person doesn't just vanish into thin air…" He trailed off when several people came to mind who certainly could make themselves scarce, one being Cloud Strife when he had vanished with Sephiroth over two years ago, another being Riku during the time that Sky was searching for him when they were teenagers, or any member of the Organization, or just about anyone who had access to the Dark and Light Corridors. "'Kay, never mind. Let's just go."

After checking the house thoroughly for any evidence of being lived in and coming up empty, they hit the streets again. They began systematically knocking on every home and business they came across, holding up the photo of Lucrecia and asking if anyone had seen her recently. Only a few shop owners recognized her face but she hadn't visited them in quite some time. After a long day of knocking on doors, Sky decided to call it a day. Their search proved fruitless and they were getting nowhere fast.

"She's jumped ship by now," Sky grumbled. "Fuck… There goes our lead." He let out a frustrated noise. "Things were so much simpler when we were just fighting Maleficent. We knew exactly where she was and what she had planned." Taking a minute to stretch his arms out, Sky began mentally planning his next course of action. "Let's head back to the castle and see if Cid's turned up any more information."

By the time they returned to the castle to report in, the sun had gone down and the stars were starting to come out in the hazy post-sunset light. Cid was still in the security room, his eyes completely focused on the task at hand. He had taken the virus attack as a personal challenge and wasn't about to back down from it until he sorted it out and got those responsible to pay for disrupting his calm. Sky folded his arms, glancing at each monitor of random images of people working in the castle, walking the streets, shopping in the Marketplace, and enjoying an evening snack at Scrooge McDuck's ice-cream stand.

"Anything?" he asked, taking his eyes off the flickering monitors.

"Actually, yeah, something strange you may want to check out," Cid answered, already in the process of pulling up a specific video. "Here's the footage of Lucrecia uploading the virus." He clicked a button and played back a silent clip of the woman Lucrecia standing at a terminal, typing something and inserting a disc into the CD-ROM. After a few seconds, she removed the disc and walked away. "Then I grabbed the footage of all the cameras that she passed by." He pointed to three different monitors that showed Lucrecia walking down various corridors until she reached the main entrance, signing out and leaving the building. She made her way through the bustling streets until she walked off camera in the last piece of footage that Cid had to offer. Sky waited a beat to see if anything else would play back, but there was no more video.

"So what happened? Where's the rest?"

"That's just it! She walked into a camera's blind-spot and then literally pulled a vanishing act! Look at the time stamps on these two clips!" The first clip, which showed Lucrecia walking into a back alley attached to the Marketplace, was marked 2:45AM. The next clip, which showed an empty portion of the alley further down displayed the same timestamp, but no Lucrecia. "She walks into the alley, which, by the way, has no exit, she steps into a spot right between two cameras' peripheral vision, and she never emerges from the alley! She just disappears!" Sky frowned deeply.

"Did she use a Light or Dark Corridor to escape?"

"No, I checked for Corridor activity. The only activity noted is when the Heartless started popping up. That was nearly an hour after this footage was taken."

"We'll check out the alley where she vanished." Sky made a quick waving motion to Leon to join him. They left the castle with a renewed sense of purpose, both feeling pretty good about this new lead of theirs.

They reached the alley in question, having retraced Lucrecia's steps, and they began looking around for clues as to how someone could leave the alley without going out the way they came in. Leon pressed his hands against the walls, looking for hidden doors while, Sky checked the ground for secret hatches or sewer grates that one could slip into. He looked straight up, trying to get a feel for the height of the building, wondering if it were possible for someone to scale the wall without any visible handholds or equipment. The buildings around them were both at least 6 storeys high with no ladders or fire exits above the ground level. But it was the only logical explanation to her disappearance.

"I'm guessing she escaped up the side of the building and she got help," Sky said aloud, getting Leon's attention. "Maybe someone lowered a ladder for her to climb up. We don't have cameras set up on the rooftops and she knew it. In which case, it doesn't matter what we find here. It doesn't change the fact that she got away and we're probably not going to find her." He cursed silently under his breath and checked his watch, grimacing. It was already 8PM and he hadn't eaten dinner yet. "Let's just call it a day and pick up tomorrow."

Noting the hungry look in Sky's eyes, Leon said, "You want to grab some dinner at Tifa's place? I bet she's back by now." Sky was about to make up another excuse but stopped himself before he said a word. Vaguely, he wondered just how many times Leon would invite him out before he got sick of rejection and stopped talking to Sky altogether. Then there was the lonely thought of going home for another night to an empty house and eating canned pasta that made his stomach churn.

"You're buying."

oOoOo

Sky and Leon pushed their way past the front doors of 7th Heaven, the restaurant and bar that Tifa had started up shortly after the war had ended. She had excellent chefs and servers working for her who made her place one of the best bars in the city and on a night like tonight, it was always busy. The tables were packed with people drinking, eating, and enjoying the peace of Radiant Garden, laughing and conversing about their daily lives. Sky felt a little awkward at first, being a little rusty with socializing, but upon seeing Aeris, Yuffie, and Tifa occupying a large table in the corner, he felt himself warm up as his old personality slipped out.

"Hey guys!" he called as he sat down with Leon beside him. The others were mildly surprised to see the brunet outside the castle at all and Yuffie took the opportunity to pounce on Sky.

"So~ra!" she squealed, hugging him close. "It's so good to see you! You never come out to the bar with us!" Sky laughed, carefully trying to disentangle himself from the little ninja.

"It's Sky, remember?" he corrected unconsciously. Most of the times when people called him 'Sora', it was a slip-up, but with Yuffie, she did it on purpose to annoy him the same way she did it to Leon by calling him 'Squall'. "I'm just here for the free food. Leon's buying."

"Ooh, what'd you do to convince him to pay?" She giggled lightly, hoping to hear some juicy gossip, but Sky wasn't about to enable her.

"Nothing. He offered, I accepted. That's what friends do, right?"

"Well if that's the case, then buy us a round of shots!" She clapped her hands loudly, getting the attention of a nearby waitress. "Five shots of Blue Rhapsody please!"

"Hey, I never agreed to that!" But it was too late to call the waitress back, who had made her way to the bar and was informing the bartender of the order.

"Relax, silly, it's only 7 munny a shot!"

"7 munny? That's 35 munny total!"

"Oh, awesome! You can do math!" She made a face at Sky, shaking his shoulder playfully. By the time he managed to get her off him, the shots had arrived on a platter, an eerily blue coloured liquid that seemed to be giving off a faint glow. "Bottoms up, everyone!" Yuffie raised her shot glass, toasting the night and clinking it gently with her companions. One by one, they all drank their shots in one gulp and slammed their glasses down in a loud clang.

"And now for real food, please," Sky chuckled, elbowing Leon. "I'll have the butter chicken."

The food and drinks lasted well into the night, as did the conversation. Sky found himself slipping back into familiar territory, smiling whenever someone made a joke and offering stories of his own. It was times like these that made it easy to forget the negativity and remember that he was living in a safe, happy world. He was amongst friends. As the night went on, Aeris was the first to politely excuse herself, citing an early morning as her excuse. It was close to midnight when Yuffie challenged the remaining others to a drinking game.

"Oh, I can see things getting ugly real fast here," Tifa laughed. She was no light-weight when it came to drinking and she could hold her own, but she wasn't so sure about Sky and Yuffie. The last thing she wanted was her beloved bar to fall victim to two hyperactive drunks. Nevertheless, she never turned down a challenge, so she called over her friend Barret to grab a bottle of Blue Rhapsody from behind the bar and join in.

"Let's play 'Truth or Drink'!" Yuffie giggled excitedly.

"What are you, twelve?" Sky scoffed, ruffling Yuffie's short locks.

"What, afraid we might find out what colour underwear you wear?" Tifa teased. "We all know about your paopu-print boxers."

"I'm not even going to ask how you found that out. But seriously, let's play something a little more exciting." Sky cocked an eyebrow as he leaned forward, peaking his friends' interest. "I never."

"Oh c'mon!" Yuffie blurted out. "How is that any different than 'Truth or Drink'?" Sky leaned back, folding his arms and smirking.

"Fuck if I know, but it's automatically cool because I said it. So?" Yuffie let out a little huff and shrugged noncommittally.

"Fine, I'm in, so long as I get drunk." The others nodded in agreement. Sky leaned forward again, pouring out five shots.

"Alright, since I suggested the game, I'll start." He looked around dramatically, his grin giving nothing away but promising mischief and embarrassment for others. "I've never… lived in Radiant Garden for more than 4 years." The others groaned, taking up their drinks and snapping back the alcohol.

"Too easy and obvious," Leon muttered. "I've never been to Destiny Island before." Sky made a face at Leon as he alone took a shot.

"I've never kissed someone of the same gender!" Yuffie laughed. Tifa, Sky, and Leon all took shots. "Tifa?"

"I was young and curious," Tifa said with a shrug as if it were completely normal to admit something like that to her friends. "And what about you, Leon?"

"Not telling…" he muttered, folding his arms in a very Leon-like fashion, which essentially told the others to fuck off. Sky raised an amused eyebrow.

"Well I've never had to stand and pee before," Tifa said with a haughty laugh. All the guys present chuckled at the obvious prejudice and took shots.

"I've never worn a bra," Barret countered, as if getting Tifa back. Tifa, Yuffie, and surprisingly Sky all took shots. "You seriously have worn a bra before?"

"It was a long, _long_ time ago and it was a dare," Sky said defensively. "We were doing Truth or Dare in Riku's basement and…" He trailed off, feeling a slight pang of sadness upon thinking of his past, especially anything concerning Riku. He shook his head, unwilling to go down that mental path. It was his turn to come up with another 'I Never', so he thought of a good one. "I've never gone skinny dipping." Everyone but Leon took a shot. He sat there with a look of deep concentration as he thought of another one to keep the ball rolling.

"I've never had to look after a child." Barret, Sky, and Tifa took shots. "Who'd you look after, Sky?"

"My mini-me. He may as well have been a child with the way he was acting for a while." Everyone enjoyed a good laugh at the younger Sora's expense.

"I got one," Yuffie declared loudly. It was obvious by her volume that she was already feeling pretty buzzed. "I've never had a scar before." Leon and Barret made 'tch' noises before taking their shots. Sky was a little more reluctant to take his. "Ooh, So~ra, you have a battle scar? Let's see it then!" Feeling a little self-conscious, Sky lifted his shirt to show the criss-crossing scars all over his torso. "Whoa! Where'd you get those?"

"Believe it or not," Sky began. "I got these from the Righteous Hearts in my timeline." The others made varying noises of surprise and interest.

"Really?" Yuffie exclaimed, suddenly holding onto Sky's arm as she swayed in her seat. "What happened?" Sky allowed a moment to compose his thoughts as the alcohol worked its way into his system and loosened his tongue.

"I was kidnapped by them. Something about me being a special case and they wanted to study my heart. A lot of it is all a blur, but I got rescued and spent a couple months recovering."

"Did they get captured?"

"Yeah, I think so…"

"You _think_ so?" Leon piped up, his arms still folded but more relaxed now. "You don't know for sure?"

"Well, it was a while ago and…" Sky trailed off for the second time that night. It suddenly occurred to him that his memories of the actual time spent with the Righteous Hearts were a lot fuzzier than he recalled. Not a lot was standing out except for the moments when an ethereal Roxas kept his mind stable. Maybe his brain was trying to spare him the torment of remembering a dark period of his life, but it seemed like every time he attempted to access those memories, he'd receive a small jolt of pain somewhere in his head. He vaguely remembered being rescued, but much of it was garbled like a television with poor reception.

"_I'll never leave you. I'll always be in your heart…"_

Sky jumped when Yuffie's chair bumped into his, knocking him out of his fading memories and settling his mind back in the present. Whose voice had that been? Who was he talking to? Maybe it was the alcohol buzzing through his system, but he couldn't help but feel like he was on the verge of uncovering something huge.

"What about where you were held?" Leon pressed, drawing Sky back into the conversation. "Maybe it will help us track them down here and now?"

"It's weird but… I can't remember anything really from that time period. I don't know who specifically held me or where I was. A lot of what I do know is from what Kairi told me after I recovered. And then it was never brought up again, like everyone was afraid I'd have a breakdown or something if they mentioned my kidnapping." Sky sighed, putting one hand on the back of his neck in deep thought. "That's so strange… I've never really thought about it before…"

"Was that an 'I never'? 'Cuz we all know how you never think." Leon let out a hearty chuckle when Sky punched him in the arm.

oOoOo

It was into the wee-hours of the morning by the time Sky and his friends left 7th Heaven and it was only upon Tifa's insistence that they go home and rest. Sky and Leon staggered out of the bar, holding onto each other for support, both certain that if they let go, the other would collapse. Yuffie was bouncing behind them, surprisingly stable despite her heavy intoxication.

"Tonight was awesome!" she exclaimed at the top of her lungs. "You should could out more often, So~ra!"

"I will if you stop calling me 'Sora'," Sky said in a slurred sort of way. "'Cuz yeah, 'cuz…yeah… That was fun. I had fun! I haven't had a lot of fun in a while…" They were walking aimlessly up an empty street, not really paying attention to where they were going, but reluctant to depart each others' company just yet. "I… I should get home. Cid'll kill me if I'm late for work…"

"You're the head of security," Leon murmured. "You make your own hours."

"Tell that to Cid." Sky was bubbling with barely-contained giddiness for some inexplicable reason. He knew he had to go; his brain was fairly coherent in his drunken state, but the commands were slow to come and he felt warm all over, somehow guessing it had to do with the person practically carrying him down the street. "I better get going." The three stopped walked, staring in opposite directions.

"Well I'm this way," Yuffie said, pointing behind herself as she started to leave. "Night, boys!" They waved her off.

"I'm that way," Leon said, pointing down the street.

"I'm… that way…?" Sky mumbled, unsure as he pointed upwards.

"You're drunk," Leon stated as if it weren't apparent. "You're drunk. I better walk you home and make sure you don't end up in a trash can somewhere."

"I'm fiiiine…!" Sky said, pushing away from Leon to demonstrate. He only stumbled twice before getting his footing. "I'll be fiiiine! And besides, I hear trash cans are quite comfy to sleep in!"

"I'm not letting you go in this… state." It sounded as though Leon was having difficulty coming up with the right words as his alcohol-drenched brain struggled to work through basic sentence structure. "You're gonna hurt yourself!"

"What are you, my dad? I can take care of myself."

"And you live really far. Like… _really _far… I just wanna make sure you actually make it there. It's no bother for me to walk you home."

"Dude… if you walk _me_ home, who will walk _you_ home?" That question almost threw Leon off-guard as he actually paused to think about it.

"That's not important!" he finally said after a moment, realising Sky's question was irrelevant.

"Whatever, dude. I'm going home and you're going to _your_ home. I'll be fine." As if to demonstrate, Sky did a quick turn, like it would prove he was sober enough to walk on his own two feet. "How about this? I'll call you the minute I get home, that way you know I made it. If I don't call within an hour, then you can walk me home. Deal?" Leon went to shake Sky's hand but paused when he realised the last part of Sky's plan didn't make sense. But before he could retract his hand, Sky latched on and shook vigorously. "Deal! See ya tomorrow!" Without waiting for Leon's brain to catch up, Sky began lightly jogging down the street.

"Other way, jackass!" Leon called.

"I knew that!" Sky laughed as he backtracked and began jogging in the correct direction to his house. "G'night, Riku!" Leon stiffened at that, taking a moment to assess if he had actually heard correctly before shrugging it off and heading towards his own home. Sky was oblivious to his own slip-up.

To Sky's credit, he did manage to make it halfway home before something stopped him. He was cutting through an alley way when suddenly, there was a black bat flying in his direction. His reflexes were slow to react and it hit him square in the face with a loud crack. He stumbled to his knees, loudly cursing and holding his injured forehead.

"What the fuck!" he roared, dazed as he tried to see his assailant. In the darkness, he couldn't make out a face or body, but his attacker didn't give him the chance to recover. They hit him again with their baton, knocking Sky off his knees to the ground. Then the attacker walked behind Sky, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him up slightly.

"Stop looking for Lucrecia," a raspy voice warned darkly.

"Who are you?" Sky hissed, weakly attempting to get the arm off his throat.

"Stop looking for Lucrecia or you're dead. This is your only warning." With that, the attacker released Sky's neck and hit him again in the back of the head, knocking him out cold.

oOoOo

a/n: You with me so far? :D In case the action is getting a little difficult to follow, I recommend watching 24. It kind of inspired this story. Originally, this story was supposed to be a quick 2 or 3 chapter story just about Sky reflecting on the last few months of his life and starting a new one, but I really wanted to do a mystery intrigue crime drama thing. Anyho, don't forget to R&R, otherwise I won't know if anything I'm writing is actually any good.


	3. Chapter 3: Snapped and Jumped

**Timeless**

Chapter 3: Snapped and Jumped

(_**June 3**__**rd**__**, 2008 – ATL**_)

Sora sat alone under a tree in the desolate world of the 100 Acre Woods, knees pulled up against his chest and arms wrapped around his legs. He stared with unseeing eyes out across the vast grey meadows as the wind blew the branches of the dead tree above him. Pages were missing from the beloved book, lost in Merlin's haste to flee Radiant Garden during the first few Heartless attacks. As a result, many of the characters were absent and the landscape resembled more of a graveyard than the lush environment it was supposed to be. It was a far cry from the safe haven that Sora remembered, but it was here that he escaped to whenever he was feeling overwhelmed about the war. It was here that he was currently hiding in for the past few days, at least until he could wrap his mind around everything.

"Sora?" He was startled to hear another voice and turned to see Kairi approaching from the exit point. "There you are! We were so worried! We've been looking everywhere for you for four days!" She looked distressed and tired, like she hadn't slept in those four days that they were searching for the Keyblade Master. Sora instantly felt guilty for making her worry.

"Sorry…" he whispered, looking away. Kairi shook her head.

"You don't have to be… I understand you want to be alone. I just wish you would have told someone where you were." She sat down next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay? How have you been dealing?"

Sora took a deep shuddering breath. "I still don't believe you guys. This is a sick joke and you need to stop." Kairi began chewing on her bottom lip nervously.

"They found a body…" she said quietly after a period of silence. Sora's head snapped in her direction. "A scout was sent out early this morning to look for survivors. They recovered the bodies of the Highwind's crew. Riku's was one of them." She closed her eyes, grief threatening to overtake her. "That's it. It's over." She sniffed, rubbing her eyes. "I was hanging on to hope too, y'know. You almost convinced me that maybe Pintel made a mistake, like maybe he didn't see the whole thing go down. But that hope's gone." She paused, looking to Sora's face for a reaction, but the young man gave none, his face neutral and blank.

She continued speaking in a soft tone. "This is for you." She held out her hand to pass something to Sora. When he failed to lift his hand to receive it, she gently picked up his hand and placed an object in his palm. "They found it on Riku's body. It was in his will that it be given to you." She waited to see if he'd even look at what she gave him, but he made no move. "They're holding a funeral for everyone tomorrow. I think you should go and say your final goodbye." Tears welled up in her eyes as she said that.

"Please leave," he murmured, never turning his eyes in her direction. Kairi opened her mouth but no sound came out. "Just go." Her shock melted away into hurt and she picked herself up to leave.

"You know where to find me when you're ready to talk," she said as she backed away, making her way quickly back to the exit point before her tears had a chance to spill over.

After a time, Sora finally mustered up the courage to look at the object in his hand. Sitting in the centre of his palm was a black-heart keychain, the Way to Dawn. A tear trickled down Sora's face.

(**Sept. 23****rd****, 2007 – CTL**)

Sky groaned as he regained consciousness. His skull was throbbing in pain and the sunlight streaming through his window was making things worse. Wait, window…? Squinting, Sky looked around, recognizing the plain décor of his bedroom, and wondered vaguely how he had managed to drag himself home. He didn't remember much from the night before. It must've been one hell of a party to have caused him such a severe migraine. The last thing he did remember was the drinking contest and Leon escorting him to the exit with Yuffie trailing after them. But the rest was a blur.

Sky froze when he heard a noise outside his bedroom, like shuffling and the creaking of his stairs. Someone was in his home. Natural instincts kicked in, pushing back the pain of his hangover to the farthest reaches of his brain, and he sat up at once, silently summoning his Keyblade to hand. Quick as lightning, he dashed beside the door and waited to see who would walk in, who was foolish enough to try breaking into his apartment, and he listened carefully with bated breath. The bedroom door opened slowly and Sky raised his weapon to strike or at the very least intimidate his would-be attacker, but he paused when he saw the familiar fur-trimmed bomber jacket accompanied by long brown locks of hair over the scarred face of his friend Leon.

"Leon?" Sky hissed, quickly dismissing his Keyblade before the older man could question why he was in defensive mode. "What are you doing here? How'd you get in?" Leon stood in the doorway threshold, holding the knob, looking at Sky's dishevelled appearance.

"You didn't call like you said you would," he stated simply, as if it were obvious. "I came by to check on you." Sky gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Thanks, mom," he muttered, relaxing and heading back to bed to lie down, clutching his head as the pain returned. "God, I'm never drinking again…"

"You look like shit," Leon said as he followed Sky, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him. "You didn't drink _that_ much, did you?"

"You tell me! You don't look so hung-over!" Sky winced as his own raised voice caused the throbbing in his head to worsen. Leon frowned slightly, latching onto Sky's chin with his hand. The sudden contact made Sky flinch as Leon turned his head from side to side, examining his face carefully before releasing him.

"What happened to your head?" Leon finally asked, like the question had been on the tip of his tongue since he walked in the door. He reached out again, gently brushing away a few spiked locks to reveal a scabbing cut that still had dried blood around the edges. Sky's voice caught in his throat, suddenly reminded of the time Riku had checked on a head wound in a similar fashion.

"Nothing," he scowled, batting Leon's hand away as his cheeks warmed. "I'm fine!"

"You're not fine. You look like you were attacked," Leon rebuked quietly. "What happened to you after I left you?"

"I…" Sky trailed off, memory failing him. For the life of him, he couldn't remember. Instead, he got up and headed to his bathroom to check on the head wound himself. When he saw his own reflection, his eyes widened. There was a large purple bruise on the left side of his forehead with a gash at the centre of it and his eyes were dark around the edges. "God, I really do look like shit."

"I should have never let you walk home alone," Leon said as he joined Sky in the bathroom, observing the damage.

"Whatever…" Sky pressed his hands over his face to both block out the sunlight and to perform a quick healing spell. When he removed his hands, the bruising around his eyes and forehead were almost invisible. "You didn't answer my other question. How'd you get in here?"

"Your front door was wide open." Leon looked very concerned. "You really don't remember anything? That's not good. Anything could have happened to you between the time I left you and when you awoke."

"Get a fucking grip, Leon. Nothing happened. I probably ran into the door or something on my way up here." Sighing, Sky grabbed a towel and turned on the faucet in his shower. After a beat, he turned a glare on Leon. "You gonna watch me shower, sweetheart, or will you please get the hell out?" Leon seemed to snap out of a stupor and promptly made a quick exit. "Thanks." Sky closed the door behind Leon.

After a ten-minute shower, an even quicker breakfast, and a short run to ease out the tension in his shoulder, Sky was feeling like his regular self once more. He accompanied Leon to Castle Luminous where they found Cid sitting in his usual spot in front of five monitors.

"Do you _ever_ sleep?" Sky quipped as he walked into the security room.

"They got me a cot down the hall," Cid muttered, chewing on a toothpick. "How goes the search for Lucrecia?"

"That back alley turned up fuck-all." Sky sighed as he sat down in an empty chair, staring with unseeing eyes at the monitors before him. Masses of humanity bustled along the streets, oblivious to the dangers that were lurking and threatening to strike in only three days time if he and the others couldn't track it down. Those people had no idea the kind of struggles and sacrifices he and the Restoration Committee did everyday to ensure their safety. He stirred from his solemn thoughts when he felt a buzzing in his pocket. Taking a moment to fish out his cell phone, he looked at the caller ID and frowned. It was from a blocked number. Stepping outside the room, he took the call.

"Hello?" he said, uncertainty lacing his voice.

"Do not react to this call, just listen carefully," said a gruff, deep voice on the other line. "I have information that may assist you in your search for Lucrecia. Simply answer yes or no if you would like this information." Sky clenched his teeth, having the great urge to ask 'Who are you?' and 'How did you get this number?' and 'What's with your voice? Smoke a pack a day?', but he kept his tongue in check. The last thing he needed was a potential lead to get scared off by his inquisitive mind. Then again, this lead might be a joke or a red herring. Still, he couldn't take the chance that this was legit and pass it up.

"Yes." If it turned out to be a trap, he was more than capable of averting disaster, both to himself and to others.

"Meet me under the Bailey walkway in one hour's time and come alone." The line went dead. Sky flinched at the sound of a dial tone and hung up his cell phone, putting it back into his front pocket. So he had a lead, and he wasn't allowed to tell anyone. It was better than nothing. He glanced back into the security room where Cid and Leon were staring intently at the monitors, looking up anything to help them track down Lucrecia. Neither seemed to notice Sky's absence, so he made a quick exit and headed for the castle gates. No one was going to miss him for a couple hours.

(_**June 5**__**th**__**, 2008 – ATL**_)

Sora missed him so desperately.

One day had passed since Riku's funeral. Sora just couldn't bring himself to go. He felt as though attending would mean acknowledging Riku's death and he wasn't prepared to accept that just yet. It had taken a great deal of coaxing just to get him to leave the 100 Acre Woods, but he ended up holing himself up in his bed chambers instead, solidly convinced that Riku would be back any day now. He paced around his room, agitated and upset. All their personal belongings were stinging reminders of their relationship. Hours rolled by and dust collected on the surfaces. Sora hardly slept. He didn't dare move a thing or tidy up, for fear of somehow ruining everything. It was irrational, but to Sora, it made sense.

"He's coming back…" he whispered, still pacing. "He's coming back…" He stopped walking when he spotted a photo sitting in a frame on his side table. In the photo, he was standing next to Riku with the taller boy's arm slung over his shoulder. They were both giving the peace sign. Sora smiled sadly at the photo, picking it up from its resting spot and examining it closer. It was taken by Pence shortly after the war had begun. Back then, things didn't seem so bad. They were confident, believing that they could beat back the darkness the same way they had before. They were so wrong.

Hands shaking, the photo frame slipped from Sora's fingers and smashed on the ground. His face crumbled slightly as his heart cried out in pain. Something was changing in his brain. Something was switching over to acceptance. It hurt so much, he thought he would suffocate.

"He's… he's not…coming back…" That quiet admission caused tears to form in his eyes. His mind had finally come to terms with what his heart had known from the start. "He's not coming back… He's dead." His eyes widened. The tears trickled down his cheeks unheeded. "He's dead." His voice echoed off the walls and into his very soul. The air in the room suddenly seemed to thin out. He needed to escape. He needed fresh air to breathe.

Barging out of his room, he headed straight to the courtyard above the gummi shipyard. It was all too overwhelming to handle. The thought that he'd never see Riku's charming smile again, never hear his smooth deep voice, never touch his silky long hair, never kiss his soft lips again, it was all too much to believe, but it was the truth and Sora realised it now. He wanted to scream, to cry, to bleed out the sorrow and anger in his heart, but he didn't make a sound. The cool air of the open outdoors hit him and dissolved the sadness until all that was left was a raw hunger for revenge. It was as if something had finally snapped in his brain. Suddenly it was clear what he had to do. Maleficent and all her Heartless minions needed to die.

Without another thought, he rapidly descended the staircase into the gummi shipyards. There were only a few personnel on site. Sora ignored them and jumped into the cockpit of a smaller scout ship.

"Hey!" one engineer shouted. "You're not cleared to leave!" Sora disregarded the engineer trying to flag him down and prevent him from leaving. He fired up the ship's engines and accelerated towards the closed bay doors. Summoning the Way to Dawn into his hands for the first time, he pointed it at the quickly-approaching doors and unlocked them, forcing them open just as his ship cleared the threshold.

His radio crackled to life. "Sora, is that you?" It was Chip or Dale, Sora could never tell the difference between the two's voices. "Turn that ship around and get back here! The King will be furious!" He ignored the radio and flicked a switch to disable the audio. Nothing was going to stand between him and his vengeance.

There was a great deal of turbulence as he entered the dark corridors separating all the worlds. His radar beeped urgently at him, indicating that he was about to get swarmed by a couple dozen Heartless fighter ships. He manoeuvred his ship, evading the first wave of laser fire. Soon, he was surrounded on all sides, so he let loose a barrage of cannon fire, taking out the fighters in front of him. He concentrated and created a shield around his ship, protecting it from further damage. The Heartless continued their ruthless attacks, some going as far as flying their ships straight into Sora's shield to weaken it. Each time the barrier fell, Sora would be forced to perform evasive action while he waited for his mana to recharge. His ship was taking damage fast.

Realising quickly that the chances of reaching the World That Never Was intact were low, he veered off and headed to the closest world with a known heavy-Heartless presence, the Land of Dragons. While his brain seemed fogged up, there was one thought that rang clear and it was 'I'm going to take down as many of these assholes as possible' without any regard for his own well-being. It didn't matter, so long as someone paid for taking Riku away from him.

As he prepared to make his descent, he twisted the controls around, sending his ship into a quick spin, firing off rapid shots to eliminate the Heartless still following him. A fresh wave appeared as he neared the surface. He flew over their defences, his ship careening out of control as he took direct hits. He aimed the ship towards an impressive-looking tower constructed by the Heartless after they had conquered this world, and moments before it collided, he kicked the cockpit door off, jumping from the flaming wreckage almost 300 yards above the ground. The ship crashed into the tower, exploding and sending debris and shrapnel rocketing across the landscape. Sora used Glide to quite literally hit the ground running. The Heartless soldiers were already converging on his position.

"C'mon!" Sora shouted, crouching low and bringing two Keyblades into existence in the palm of his hands, the Oblivion and the Way to Dawn. "Bring it!"

He performed an aerial spin as the first unfortunate Heartless shadows sprang at him. Their forms dissolved into dark mist when the Way to Dawn connected with them. Letting out a primal growl, he cut down Heartless left and right. A legion of Heartless Assault Riders assembled across the field and charged at him. He jumped over the first one, using the leverage of its spear to vault himself at the second one, driving his Keyblade into its chest. With the Rider gone, the Heartless horse reared backwards, flinging Sora off. He rolled along the ground and leapt to his feet. Dodging left to avoid getting a spear in his skull, he grabbed the pole, pulling with all his might. The Rider fell off its horse, spooking the beast and causing it to trample its rider. Sora jumped up on the Heartless horse's back and brought his two Keyblades down on its head, essentially using them like scissors to decapitate the confused beast.

Catching a glint of silver in his eye, Sora spun around to deflect an arrow aimed at his backside. He spotted dozens of Heartless archers lined up along the fortress walls, all ready to launch a barrage of arrows from their drawn bows. Sora summoned a shield around himself just in time, flinching when a few of the arrows broke through his defences and pierced his arms. Unheeding the pain, he charged a massive Firaga spell, unleashing a fiery bird of hell upon his enemies and all the archers. In his moment of distraction, he was knocked off his feet by a couple foot soldiers. There was a sharp pain as one soldier clubbed him over the head. Blood crept into his vision, blinding him just a moment, but he quickly wiped it away and flipped out of danger, slicing off the legs of the nearest soldiers as he did.

There were no coherent thoughts running through his mind at that time. He was focused only on causing as much destruction and chaos as possible before he was cut down. His heart burned with rage and grief and his hands shook with adrenaline. The battle was such a blur, he was barely aware of when he was struck or knocked down. His arms were slowly becoming obscured by cuts and gashes, his knees covered by bruises and scrapes, and his clothes torn. The assault seemed to go on forever, an eternity of battle and attack, of bloodshed and darkness. Keyblades swung recklessly, slicing through enemies. He would not back down, even as his energy and stamina slowly faded. He couldn't keep this up. But he didn't need to. He was fulfilling his vengeance. He would join Riku in death.

The beginning of his downfall took the form of his body being pinned to the fortress wall by an Assault Rider's lance, the blade piecing his shoulder. Sora grunted in pain but otherwise refused to show them weakness. He would not go down crying like a scared child. He imagined for a moment that Riku had gone down fighting as well, brave and strong. The older man would have shown no weakness. The number of Heartless it would've taken to kill him must've been great and Sora grinned despite the pain, imagining that their losses must've been greater than Riku's.

In one last burst of energy, Sora cut through the wooden handle of the lance still pining him to the wall. He pulled the long blade from his shoulder, blood splattering the snow beneath his feet and staining his hands and clothes, and he tossed the spearhead aside before throwing Oblivion at the Rider who had pierced him. The Heartless platoon screeched in fury, almost as if they were demanding that Sora give up already. But he wasn't done cutting down their numbers. He would concede defeat only when he was emptied of blood and life.

He took two steps forward before collapsing on the bloodstained snow facedown. His energy was leaving him faster than he had anticipated. He didn't want to admit it, but he was in agony, pain searing across his whole body. It was strange, though, that the snow should provide him with a tiny bit of comfort, its coldness seeping into his pores and calming his raging soul for just a second. He watched in fascination as the snow soaked up the blood trickling down his forehead and the gaping wound in his shoulder. A shadow loomed above him somewhere, drawing him back to reality.

Sora panted heavily, picking himself up but weakly falling to his knees. He would not let these beasts get the better of him and he would not take their lashings lying down, but he was just so tired. One eye was blinded by blood, but through his good eye, he watched as a dozen Assault Riders surrounded him, their lances drawn and poised to strike. This was the end, he could feel it. He had carried out his retribution, his soul empty of wrath, and all that remained was a hollow ache of loss. The time was right. He would see Riku again. Turning his head slightly to the side, he spat out the blood from his mouth, trying to get rid of the copper flavour.

"Go ahead…" he muttered at his foes. "Do it." Levelling his glare upon the one directly in front of him, he bared his teeth in rebellion, daring the Heartless to make a move. "What are you waiting for? Get it over with!" The Rider raised its lance, as if unable to resist Sora's request, and it drew its arm back to deliver the finishing blow. "DO IT!" Sora roared, quickly losing patience.

Before the Heartless could move, there was a flash of metal and a blur as something flew through the Rider, cutting it in half. Sora's eyes widened, shock overwhelming him. The fast-moving object seemed to be moving with a will of its own, arching around, slicing through all the Assault Riders in the area and zooming back towards its owner. Kairi caught her Keyblade effortlessly, using it to impale the Heartless coming up behind her. Her eyes locked with Sora's.

"Move your ass!" she shouted as she spun to cut down another group of Heartless. Sora's heart sped up. She had risked her life to save him. He scrambled to his feet, calling his Keyblades back to his hands. All signs of fatigue were quickly forgotten as the adrenaline got pumping again. Kairi grabbed Sora by the hood of his jacket, pulling him close so she could create a barrier around them.

"Just what the hell were you thinking?" she demanded once she had a minute to speak. "Why would you hijack a ship and fly into enemy territory without backup?" Sora didn't reply. "God damn it, answer me! Why were you trying to get yourself killed?" He bit back his tears, focusing on the Heartless swarming outside their bubble trying to break in. Any second now, the spell would fail and they'd come flooding in, but Kairi didn't care. She wanted answers. When Sora didn't respond, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Are you listening to me? Killing yourself won't bring him back!"

"It's my fault!" Sora suddenly shouted, unconcerned by the tears spilling down his face. "It's my fault he's dead! I tried to talk him out of doing the Port Royal mission, but he wouldn't listen to me! He would have given me the mission if I beat him in a game of Rock Paper Scissors, but I didn't win a single round! If I had won just one game…" He trailed off as his throat constricted and his body sagged with the emotional outburst. Kairi's eyes were wide with shock and horror, as if she couldn't believe a single word Sora had just said. And then, without warning, she slapped him hard across the face.

"You selfish bastard! It's not your fault! How could you even think that?" Her barrier spell flickered as her concentration wavered. Sora was rooted to the ground, unable to comprehend that his best childhood friend had just struck him. "If you went on that mission, then _you_ would have been the one killed! And then how'd you think Riku would feel? How do you think we'd all feel?" Her breaths came in laboured and heavy with ferocity. "This isn't about just you! You're not the only one who's hurting!"

"Don't start!" Sora finally shouted back, not bothering to nurse the bruise on his face. "Don't even go there! You don't know what it's like to lose someone you love, like a soul mate! Like half your heart was ripped from your chest!"

"Of course I do!" Kairi cried, tears starting to fall down her face. "I lost you!" Sora's heart skipped a beat.

"What?" She couldn't possibly mean what he thought she did.

Kairi gave him a sad look, shaking her head slowly. "Did you really think I wasn't in love with you?"

"I…" he stuttered, completely dumbfounded. "I had no idea…"

"Of course you didn't, because I was careful about my feelings. I knew, long before even you or Riku did, that you two were in love with each other, and I accepted that! I didn't try to fight for you because I knew I would never have you! I just wanted you to be happy! So yes, I know what it feels like to be denied love!" This new admission changed everything for Sora. He honestly had no idea that Kairi felt that way about him. He had always assumed that she only ever wanted to be friends.

He was spared the awkward conversation when the defensive spell vanished, leaving them vulnerable to the enemy. The two teens took up arms once more and fought their way towards Kairi's ship, parked a long way away from the Heartless base camp. With two Keyblade Masters versus an army of Heartless, it wasn't as difficult as Sora fighting alone. Someone to watch his back, to ensure he stayed healed and healthy, someone who cared about him, to make sure he was alive, it was all he needed to get through this horrible battle and into the safety of Kairi's ship.

They finished off the stragglers still following them and leapt into the cockpit, firing up the engine and taking off immediately. Their ship shook as the remaining ground Heartless fired anti-aircraft weaponry in an attempt to stop them. Pushing the engines hard and using what little magic they had left to protect themselves, they made it out of the atmosphere and into the dark corridors, but were quickly surrounded by Heartless fighters. Kairi piloted while Sora controlled the weapons, picking off only the essential ones needed to get clear of the planet. Once a path was formed, Kairi activated the hyperdrive and they blasted off towards Disney Castle.

It became painfully quiet in the cockpit. Kairi pretended to be focused on piloting while Sora sulked in the seat behind her. He was shaking, still overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the last few days. How could he have possibly known that Kairi was in love with him? Feeling shame wash over him, he supposed he knew all along and just pretended like nothing was out of the ordinary. It would explain why she risked her life to bring him back home. And just what _was _he thinking? Maybe he was trying to get himself killed. Maybe he just wanted to end things and leave his responsibilities behind. The guilty burden he carried with him now was unbearable. Kairi was right. He was being selfish. She wasn't the only one who needed support right now. He needed to think of everyone. The universe had just lost one of their only defenders capable of turning back the darkness. He would have been incredibly selfish if he had allowed himself to die today. The universe would have surely been doomed.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered. His voice was hoarse. Kairi turned her head slightly.

"So am I," she replied unhappily. The rest of their trip was silent.

When they returned to Disney Castle, the King was waiting for them in the gummi shipyard, wearing a look of deep disappointment. Kairi saluted once she was on solid ground, but Sora brushed by both of them, heading straight for the grated staircase.

"We need to talk," King Mickey called. Sora paused, looking over his shoulder darkly at the King.

"No, we don't," he said in a low voice before exiting the shipyard.

(**Sept. 23****rd****, 2007 – CTL**)

Sky stepped into the makeshift tunnel that formed the walkway beneath the Bailey. It was all still under reconstruction and closed off to the public, but he had no issues getting in. He wondered vaguely if his mysterious informant would have the same ease getting in. Not that anyone was actually patrolling the construction site to ensure there were no trespassers. It was generally understood by the townspeople that they were supposed to stay out of an area that had a great sign that said 'Stay Out'.

Checking his watch anxiously, Sky shifted from foot to foot. He never dealt well in a situation that required patience, being an impulsive man by nature. It was only a couple minutes past the deadline for the meeting, but he was feeling quite antsy. He only had to wait a moment longer before he heard a rustle of fabric and the footsteps of a person approaching him. He spun around and caught a glimpse of a red coat fluttering in the wind. There stood a man a good five or six inches taller than Sky, wearing a long red jacket with a torn hem, and hair as dark as midnight obscuring his facial features.

"You're the man who called me?" Sky said boldly, stepping forward. The man held his ground, watching Sky carefully, looking him up and down as if determining his worth before he opened his mouth to speak, his lips hidden behind a high buckled collar.

"I am Vincent Valentine," he said, his voice reverberating off the tunnel walls. Sky suppressed a shudder. There was something engrossing about the voice. "I understand you and Squall Leonhart have been looking for Lucrecia Crescent." Vincent opened his coat and pulled a notepad from his inner pocket. "I'm afraid I can't help you locate her exact location, but I know where she was before and who she worked with. It may help you track her down. I imagine you have more resources at your disposal than I."

"You're trying to track her down, too?" Sky cocked an eyebrow, hoping he didn't have the misfortune a meeting one of Lucrecia's insane ex-boyfriends or something like that.

Vincent's eyes narrowed. "In a manner of speaking. I was once her bodyguard and she never really relieved me of that position."

"If you're her bodyguard and you're supposed to protect her, how'd you lose her? And more importantly, why would you be helping me find her? Do you know _why _we're looking for her?"

"I don't know why you're looking for her, but I can only assume your intentions are good. You work for the government, don't you?" Sky detected a hint of sarcasm in the last statement, like it was meant to be ironic, as if he were suggesting that the government was not always looking out for the people's best interests. "She must be important enough to warrant the need for a search party to be questioning her location. I have reason to believe she's been taken captive and forced to work for a terrorist group for the last three years. Since you're already on the case, I thought I'd provide any information I can about her. As for how I lost her, that's my own business." Sky folded his arms, having a hard time buying this Vincent's story.

"How'd you hear about me?" he asked slowly, hoping to catch a slip-up. He was a rather good judge of character, and something about Vincent told him that this red-clad man wasn't giving the right details on purpose, being deceptively obscure. Then again, Sky was being careful not to allude to the fact that he wasn't searching for Lucrecia for her own good, he was searching for her to arrest her for treason. He was sure if Vincent knew this detail, he wouldn't be so willing to give any information at all, if his intentions were truly honourable.

"You and 'Leon' were going around asking people where she was. I wouldn't be surprised if her captors have gotten wind of that fact and left town by now." Resisting the urge to kiss his teeth in annoyance, Sky pressed on with his questions.

"And my phone. How'd you get my number?"

"You're listed in the phonebook." At that, Sky didn't hold back from kissing his teeth loudly and looking heavenward, cursing the phone companies in Radiant Garden silently in his head. "Anymore stupid questions?"

"Watch it, buddy!" Sky unfolded his arms and stepped forward, attempting to intimidate the taller man and failing quite spectacularly. "You're not exactly giving me the whole 'trusting' feeling here, so just answer my questions and none of that sarcastic bullshit. Got it?" He pointed his finger at Vincent, hoping it would get his point across. Vincent said nothing, staring stoically. "Good. Now tell me how you and Lucrecia got paired up."

"She worked for the Shinra Electric Company over fourteen years ago in their Science and Development department. A lot of the work she did was highly experimental and highly controversial. After several attacks from protestors who claimed what they were doing was unethical, I was hired to keep her safe. I wasn't privy to the actual research they did, but I know it had something to do with harnessing the darkness in a person's heart and using it as a form of energy to power cities."

Sky made a disgusted face. "No wonder people were protesting Shinra. That's despicable."

"It wasn't my job to judge them, just protect them." Vincent paused in his story to pull out a cigarette from his inner coat pocket, using a spark of Fire magic to light it. After a drag, he continued. "A few months after I was hired, I heard they were getting a flood of research data from Ansem the Wise's apprentices. They were making remarkable breakthroughs with their discovery of the Heartless. But then all hell broke lose and our world was plunged into darkness." There was a long period of silence in which Sky waited for Vincent to continue, but the older man didn't.

"That's it?" Sky could feel his temper flaring at wasting his time with this man. "Then what happened?"

"You're asking the wrong questions. What you should ask is, 'What does Shinra have to do with everything that's happening now?' All I can tell you is that Lucrecia no longer works for them. After Hollow Bastion was restored to its former name Radiant Garden, she joined up with the Restoration Committee. After that, I lost track of her. I can only assume she was recruited into something else by someone who knew her from her days with Shinra. If you can find someone from Shinra, you may find the connection to her current whereabouts." Just as he finished talking, he tossed his finished cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out.

"How do you figure there's a connection?"

"That's your job to figure out." He handed over the notepad to Sky. "Good luck." With that, he turned and started to leave. Sky thought about calling him back and demanding more solid answers, but thought better of it. Somehow he knew it would do him no good. By the time Vincent was long out of sight, Sky finally glanced down at the notepad in his hands. It contained notes on everything Vincent had just mentioned and some finer details about the Shinra Electric Company, as well as a short list of scientists in the same department as Lucrecia.

A rustling noise brought Sky back to reality. He glanced up in time to see a dark-clad figure run by the entrance to the underpass and dart out of sight. Frowning, Sky walked to the entrance mouth and peered out, looking back and forth for more activity. He was taken by surprise when a figure dressed in black from head to toe appeared before him, lunging at him with fists drawn. Instinctively, Sky brought his arms up to block the attack and jumped back, summoning his Keyblade to defend himself.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. The figure lowered itself into a fighting stance, preparing to attack again.

"I warned you not to go looking for Lucrecia," it hissed. Sky squinted, trying to determine if the figure was male or female, and more importantly, trying to peg exactly where he had heard that voice before. Before either observation could be clearly made, the figure launched at him again, moving at incredibly fast speeds.

Sky dodged to the left and backed up, more concerned with unmasking this ninja-like figure and questioning it rather than really fighting. The figure attacked again, moving with agility and grace, but Sky was just a touch faster, waiting for an opening to hit the figure over the back of the head and subdue them. Getting rather tired of waiting, Sky simply released a wave of magic.

"_Bind!_" he chanted. The underpass was filled with a bright green light. Sky smirked, and waited for the ninja to collapse over, but when the green wave passed over it, there was a faint blue ripple on the surface of its clothes. The ninja paused to look down and then resume its attack. "A personal Protega?" A Protega shield was advanced white magic, which could only mean that whoever he was fighting was a trained soldier of Radiant Garden and had served in the recent war with Maleficent. Only specially selected soldiers of Radiant Garden were trained to use advanced white magic. Sky's calm aura dissolved away. He did not take lightly to traitors.

Taking on the offensive, Sky charged his opponent and performed a sliding dash along the ground, tripping the feet out from under the attacker. It caught itself, balancing precariously on one hand while simultaneously pulling a baton out of a concealed hip pouch. By the time the figure had righted itself, it was brandishing what looked like the handle of a sword. Pressing a button on the side of the handle, the blade seemed to pop out of the handle, ready for use.

Back and forth, Sky and the attacker parried swords and it wasn't long before Sky found himself on the defence once again. Whoever this person was, they were very good. The ninja had a habit of vanishing into thin air and then appearing behind him or above him, and he had to narrowly avoid impalement. Any strikes he had been able to land seemed to repel off the form-fitting Protega spell enveloping the attacker's whole body. This was getting ridiculous.

"All right, no more Mr. Nice Guy," Sky hissed. First he cast Aerona, a powerful tornado-like spell taking the shape of a massive bird. Using the winds to keep the attacker at bay, Sky then used Drive to transform into his Final Form. Although his clothes remained the same colour, his body gave off a brilliant glow that illuminated the underpass. The prevailing winds disoriented the ninja long enough that Sky was able to direct his arms at the ninja and used his two Keyblades to knock the figure around until he had it pinned to the ceiling of the underpass.

"Now, time to see who you really are," Sky said with a smug grin as he floated to the ceiling and reached out to pull off the figure's mask. Before his fingers could make contact, there was a sudden pulse throughout the area, negating all magic use for a split second. In that split second, several things occurred at once. First, both Sky and the ninja fell to the ground, Sky having lost his ability to Drive, and the ninja no longer pinned to the ceiling with two Keyblades and magical winds. Second, the Aerona spell dispersed and there was a rapid blue fluctuation across the attacker's body as its Protega shield failed. Lastly, as the figure fell to the ground, it pulled three black pellets from its pocket, smashing them into the ground on impact. The underpass with instantly filled with black smoke.

Sky coughed and cursed loudly as he tried to see through the smoke. He knew the figure was getting away but he couldn't see which way and he couldn't hear footsteps over his own laboured breaths. When the smoke cleared, as he expected, the ninja was gone and all was quiet once more.

"Well…" he said to himself, looking around still and rubbing his sore eyes as his mana recharged. "That was interesting…"

oOoOo

A/n: Super ninja! :D How am I doing for action scenes? Digital cookies for all my current reviewers! Thanks for letting me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4: Follow the Leader

**Timeless**

Chapter 4: Follow the Lead(er)

(**Sept. 23****rd****, 2007 – CTL**)

"Where have you been all day?" Leon asked. Sky couldn't decide if he sounded concerned, or jealous, or simply annoyed. Huffing, Sky breezed past Leon and sat down in a swivel chair. He had just returned to the security room of Castle Luminous after his meeting with Vincent Valentine, and he was just a little sore all over.

"Got jumped by some super ninja or something." He waited the appropriate amount of time for Leon to become alarmed, but before the older brunet could speak, Sky continued on like it was nothing. "I got a tip from an informant that might help us track down Lucrecia," he said with a shrug. "Did you know she used to work for the Shinra Electric Company?" Leon composed himself as he thought back.

"Yes, it was on her resume when she applied for a job with the Restoration Committee." Leon shook his head, still unable to comprehend what Sky was talking about. "Super ninja?"

"Do you know specifically what she was involved with?" Sky asked, ignoring Leon's question.

"Research and development. They were doing something along the lines of finding new and efficient sources of energy."

"Ah, but do you know what they decided to try using?" There was a pause as, clearly, Leon had no idea. Having finally stumped him, Sky grinned triumphantly. "They were using the darkness in people's hearts as a source of power. And if what this informant said was true, they were in cahoots with Xehanort and his boys. Pretty fucking sketchy, huh? I want to check in with Tron to confirm this information, but if that guy's right, then there may be a connection between Shinra and the Righteous Hearts."

"That's impossible. Shinra went bankrupt shortly before Radiant Garden was overrun by Heartless. I was only a teenager at the time, but I remember the headlines clearly. They overspent their finances, Ansem the Wise discredited their work, their stocks plummeted, and they went out of business."

"Maybe a few of Shinra's CEOs or scientists defected to the Righteous Hearts movement. I mean, wouldn't _you _be pissed if the ruler of your world forced your company belly-up?"

"I still don't see the connection. They may have had shady dealings, but that doesn't make them terrorists."

"In my timeline, the Righteous Hearts had some rather shady dealings themselves. They were dabbling in experiments very similar to what Shinra was up to. The only difference is that in my time, the experiments were being headed up by Dr. Finklestein of Halloween Town. And we both know that Finklestein isn't the one behind the Hearts. He's still back in Halloween Town. He wasn't recruited until later."

"So you think just because Shinra and the Righteous Hearts both ran experiments on human hearts, it means they're connected somehow?"

"It doesn't hurt to dig around. Anything at this point is a good lead." Leon was only partially convinced, but Sky was right. They needed a lead to follow if they were going to prevent the attack in less than three days. They made their way over to the console that would allow them to communicate with the Space Paranoids world. After typing a few commands into the computer, the communication light flickered on and the voice of Tron filled the room.

"You are connected to the server," he said.

"Tron, buddy!" Sky called.

Warmth filled Tron's voice upon recognizing Sky's voice. "Ah, So- I mean, Sky! It's good to hear from you!" A small blue light appeared next to the mini camera attached to the monitor, indicating that Tron had a visual on the two users connected to his world. "And Squall, it's a pleasure as always."

"Leon…" the older brunet muttered under his breath.

"What can I do for you today?" Tron asked, having missed Leon's correction.

"We're looking for information about the Shinra Electric Company. What can you tell us about who ran it and what happened to everyone?"

"Just a moment." There was a brief pause as Tron accessed his central processing unit to obtain the information requested. "The Shinra Electric Company was founded 32 years ago by the Shinra family and passed down from father to son. They were responsible for the power in Radiant Garden, but their methods of obtaining the power were questionable at best. According to the data files I was able to find, their head office and facilities were raided several times by activists and protestors."

"What kind of methods did they use that angered everyone?" Leon asked.

"They were taking the light of Radiant Garden's heart, the heart at the centre of the world." Sky made a small noise of disapproval while Leon merely frowned. "But eventually, what made them lose their credibility was when they discovered that the darkness in a person's heart could produce more energy than the light. They began trading research with the apprentices of Ansem the Wise until Ansem found out what they were all up to. He forced Shinra into bankruptcy and exiled their top scientists. Much of this was hushed up and kept from the media. Eventually, however, Xehanort exiled Ansem and reinstated one of the scientists."

"Which one? What was his name?" Sky asked.

"That information is classified. I'm afraid I can't find anything about it anywhere in Radiant Garden's database."

"What about Lucrecia? She worked for Shinra, right?"

"Correct. However, she wasn't one of the exiled scientists. Her role in the research was deemed minimal, not severe enough to warrant punishment."

"God…" Leon muttered, shaking his head. "I had no idea that her background was so dark."

"You didn't bother running a background check on her before you hired her?" Sky asked, as if it were obvious.

"With what technology? We were just beginning to pick up the pieces of what was left of Hollow Bastion and she volunteered her services into getting our old technology up and running again. She didn't even ask for compensation at first! And we needed all the help we could get! So no, I didn't check her credentials beyond her resume and a few references. But now I'm starting to wish I had."

"Fine, whatever," Sky grumbled, turning back to the console screen. "What about their CEO?"

"Rufus Shinra and the other members of the board perished in the first Heartless war," Tron explained.

"Hmm, so that eliminates a few people from our list of suspects. What about other personnel who would have been close to Lucrecia? Does the name Vincent Valentine come up?"

"Vincent Valentine was an employee of an off-shoot of Shinra, an organization of bodyguards hired to protect the scientists and board members from the protestors. They were known as the Turks. When Shinra went out of business, the Turks went freelance and offered their services to anyone who could afford it."

"Give me a list of the remaining members. We'll see if we can track down one of them and question them about the whereabouts of Lucrecia." Within seconds, the printer next to the console printed off several sheets of information on Shinra, the Turks, and the remaining members, including personal data and photos. "Thanks, Tron. We'll be seeing you."

"Safe travels, my friend." The blue light on the camera shut off and the communication cut out.

oOoOo

"According to the profile on this guy, his favourite haunt is the Imperial Bar down on Front St.," Sky explained as he and Leon navigated the streets of Radiant Garden. "He's listed as employed but inactive. Let's find out why." They continued on in silence for a few minutes, Sky's eyes darted back and forth between either side of the street, looking at store fronts and quickly scanning people's faces. Many were making their way home from a long day of work, and they had their heads downcast, avoiding eye-contact with one another, shutting the world out until they reached home. Sky both understood that mentality and at the same time, he was bothered by it. When he was a teenager travelling from world to world, he was always met with open friendliness from the locals. It was simply irksome that the bigger a town got, the less likely they were to feel connected with each other.

"Everything okay?" Leon asked.

"Hmm?" Sky stirred, glancing at his companion. It always seemed like Leon knew when Sky was feeling particularly distracted or nostalgic. In a way, it was kind of nice that Leon noticed and cared enough to ask about Sky's wellbeing, but it could also be rather annoying sometimes to be pestered over. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just… reminiscing, that's all." Leon observed Sky out of the corner of his eye. "I know I shouldn't dwell on the past, but… there are some things I can't let go."

"I can't imagine what your timeline could have been like…" Leon said quietly. "It must've been truly horrific if it was enough to make the light in your eyes go out." Sky slowed in his steps at that comment.

"I lost a lot of people I called friends. Including you."

"Me?" Now Leon had stopped walking altogether. "I was dead in your time?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to spook you."

Leon was a little slow to catch up to Sky. "I'm not spooked, just… surprised, I guess." They walked in silence for about ten more seconds before Leon spoke again. "Well, how'd it happen? I'm curious now." Somehow, Sky wasn't surprised that Leon would be more interested in how his alternate self had died rather than be perturbed at the very thought of it.

"It wasn't anything really special…" Sky sighed. He remembered having a similar conversation with Kairi once upon a time. She was so curious to know how she had perished in the other timeline, despite it being a rather morbid topic to discuss. "Well, I mean, I heard you were quite brave. You and a small team of special ops were selected for a mission to assassinate Maleficent, but you were caught before you could execute the plan. She tortured you for information for weeks but you were specially trained to resist her. She deemed you useless and had you executed. The survivors who escaped said you were beyond brave."

Leon seemed a little embarrassed. "I kinda feel like I should live up to that title now."

"Don't worry, you already have." Sky grinned, nudging Leon in the ribs with his elbow. "I think you're pretty brave. You really took charge during the second Heartless war."

"Thanks, I guess. But I was just doing what came naturally. I was already partly a leader here. Leading an army off-world wasn't any different." Feeling a smile tug at his lips, Leon said, "You're the one who really took charge. With everything, I mean. It took a lot of bravery to travel back in time and take on the responsibility of averting a universal disaster. You've come a long way from being a scared child with a giant key in a strange new world." Now it was Sky's turn to be modest and shy. He tried not to think about things like the measure of courage. To him, it was the obvious thing to do and bravery had nothing to do with it. Granted, in the last moments he had in his own timeline before being thrust into the past, he had been terrified and he almost didn't go through with his mission. But he would never admit that to anyone. Not even Leon.

As the scenery around them changed from the business district to the entertainment district, Leon brought up something else that had been bugging him for the last few minutes. "So… what happened to the rest of Radiant Garden? Was it in one piece when you made your trip into the past?"

Sky chewed on his bottom lip, staring off into the distance. "No." Leon flinched.

"What… what happened?" Sky simply gave Leon a look that said 'Do you really want to know?' to which Leon met Sky's gaze and gave an ever-so-subtle nod. Sky closed his eyes as he launched into yet another story of a future that never happened.

(_**Nov. 3**__**rd**__**, 2008 - ATL**_)

Klaxons blared loudly across the city as tiny black shadows swarmed the streets, devouring the hearts of any hapless citizen fleeing from them. Chaos and destruction were rampant. The defence drones responsible for protecting the city and its people failed to activate, leaving them vulnerable to attack. The people were trying to escape to the gummi evacuation ships prepped and ready to go in the pavilion outside Castle Luminous. Radiant Garden was, without a doubt, doomed.

Leon barked orders at the soldiers around him, attacking the Heartless attempting to break down their barriers. He couldn't believe this was happening a second time in his lifetime. His home was about to be overrun by Heartless again, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it. He watched in despair as several of the evacuation ships lifted off only to get shot down by Heartless warships in orbit. There would be no escape for anyone if something wasn't done about those enemy ships.

"Cid, progress!" Leon shouted into his headset.

"Damn virus has everything screwed up in here!" Cid's voice crackled over the radio. "We've got digital Heartless sprites materializing in the cargo bay! I can't shut the system down!"

"Forget the system! Focus on cannon support! We need to cover the evacuation ships! People are dying out here!"

"Yeah, well, people are dying in here too!" Leon switched his headset off, cursing under his breath and renewing his efforts on the new wave of Heartless soldiers storming the castle walls. He was thrown off his feet when there was a sudden explosion in the sky, sending a shockwave across the landscape. Shielding his eyes, he squinted, staring at a ball of flames hanging suspended in the sky.

"One of the warships was destroyed!" Aeris called from the other side of the courtyard. Another explosion went off, followed quickly by a strong gust of wind, but this time, Leon held his footing, digging his heels in. From the second explosion, a small one-man gummi fighter broke through the flames and smoke, guns blazing. Relief flooded Leon as he recognized the markings on the fighter.

"It's Highwind II!" he called to Aeris. The fighter Highwind II swooped over the castle gates, letting loose a barrage of laser-fire on the Heartless throng, clearing the way for the escaping townspeople. It performed an aerial arc to take out the enemy fighters on its tail.

"The skies are clear!" said Sora over the radio from his fighter. "Get your people out of here, Leon!"

"Roger that!" Leon said, waving as Highwind II flew overhead. He signalled to an engineer to clear the remaining evacuation ships to leave. The ships took off, leaving vapour trails in their midst as they broke through the atmosphere and escaped into the dark corridors. All that remained was one shuttle for the commanding officers. Another gummi fighter appeared in the sky to escort them to safety.

"Cid, get your ass out here! We're leaving!" Leon heard the distinct grumbling of the older man as he acknowledged the order. Within a few minutes, Cid joined Leon, Aeris, and Tifa at the launch pad. Sora and the other fighter circled around above until the shuttle was off the ground and heading into the dark corridors where they could use their jump drives to get to Disney Castle. Leon watched grimly as they left his home behind for good. There would be no turning back this time.

The pilot activated the jump drive and Radiant Garden became nothing more than a tiny blurry streak in the distance. Soon, it wouldn't even be that much, once the Heartless were through with it. Leon's companions were feeling the same pain of loss. Cid let out a loud sigh, pulling a flask from his coat pocket. He took a long swig before passing it to Tifa, who accepted it gratefully and passed it along the line once she was done with it. With a heavy heart, Leon muttered a quick goodbye to Radiant Garden and took a large sip of Cid's own brand of whiskey. The putrid burning flavour couldn't have been more welcoming.

**(Sept. 23****rd****, 2007 – CTL**)

By the time Sky had finished telling his story, they had arrived outside the Imperial Bar, a dive bar beyond belief. The lettering on the sign above the door was faded and the paint was chipping away as time had its way with it. Many of the windows in the front were filthy and tarnished, some broken and boarded up. The door looked like it was on its last legs of life, clinging to its frame just barely by the hinges, as if a gust of wind would knock it down for good. It was hard to believe that anyone would be desperate enough to drink in this place.

"You sure this is the place…?" Leon asked with a hint of hesitancy. He made a mental note to mark this building down for rezoning as soon as possible. Something this ugly and decrepit didn't belong in Radiant Garden. Sky frowned, glancing at the sheet in his hand that had information on their lead.

"Address is correct," he murmured, unsure himself. "Sign says we're in the right place." There was a long pause as the two men simply stared at the rundown bar, assessing its worth. Shrugging, they pushed their way into the dilapidated bar, the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke infiltrating their nostrils. Tifa's bar was definitely ten times better than this dump, Sky thought to himself bitterly. His keen blue eyes scanned the room carefully, looking for a man that fit the description of who he was looking for. And there, sitting at the end of the bar, hunched over a glass of copper-coloured liquid, was the man Sky was hoping to find. He subtly nudged Leon and indicated with a slight nod of his head to the man at the end of the bar.

"That's him," he murmured to his companion. "Let me do all the talking. I'm a people-person, right?" He flashed Leon a smug grin, making Leon roll his eyes. They approached their target with slow, precise movements, ready at a moment's notice to give chase if the man should bolt, but when it became apparent that the man had no intention of running, completely unaware of their presence, their movements became a little more relaxed.

Sky took a seat next to the man, waving his hand at the barkeep to get her attention. She fixed him with an odd look and sauntered over, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of her painted lips.

"What can I get you, honey?" she said in a husky voice, deliberately leaning over the edge of the bar top to give Sky a nice view of her endowed cleavage. Sky barely noticed.

"Two Blue Rhapsodies," he said, holding up two fingers, and then jerking a thumb at the man next to him. "And another one of whatever he's drinking for the gentlemen here." The barkeep seemed disappointed at the lack of attention and bustled off to mix the drinks. The man stirred, sitting up a little straighter, and gave Sky a wary look of confusion, scratching the back of his head.

"What's the occasion, yo?" he asked casually, sizing Sky up, trying to determine if he was legit or not.

"To making new friends!" Sky said easily as his drinks arrived. He took up one blue-glowing shot glass as Leon took up the other. A highball glass of copper-coloured liquid over ice arrived for the man. In a gentle clinking of glasses, they made a quiet toast and drank their beverages. Sky made a relaxed noise as he set his shot glass down and turned to the man fully, taking in his appearance. He had flaming messy red hair that was pulled into a ponytail, two tattoos on his upper cheekbones, and a rather rumpled appearance in his clothes, as though he had made an attempt to dress fancy for the day and had given up halfway through.

"You look… familiar…" Sky said carefully, squinting. "Did you know a guy named Axel?" The man frowned, clearly out of his element. It wasn't everyday that he was approached by strangers and offered a drink and then told he looked like someone he had never heard of before.

"No…" he mumbled. "Can't say I did."

"Do you have a brother, maybe?" Sky wasn't sure why it mattered, but he was unusually drawn to this man's appearance. If he wasn't related to the fire-wielding Nobody in some way or another, then Sky would eat his own Keyblade.

"Had." The man turned back to his glass, taking a long sip from it. "A younger brother. He died years ago. Back when the Heartless tore this world apart."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"S'okay. Not your fault, yo. Lea was a bit of a mischief-maker, y'know? He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess." Ah, the connection, Sky thought to himself. Add an 'X' to Lea and what do you get? He was drawn from his thoughts when the man made an abrupt noise, something like a cross between a scoff and a laugh. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I just met you!"

"Well, we're friends now!" Sky laughed, patting the man on the back. "My name's Sky. This is Leon."

"Reno." The man shook Sky's hand. "What brings you to this dump anyway? Don't tell me you're a fan of the décor."

"I think it's quite lovely." Sky was quite good at being sarcastic. Reno grinned at the semi-joke. "To be honest, I was looking for someone. Know a woman by the name of Lucrecia Crescent?" Reno had to stop playing with his glass as a struggled look of concentration crossed his features.

"Sounds familiar. I think she was a client of my company way back when. But that was the old days…" He took another pull of his drink. "Haven't heard from her since. Sorry I'm not that helpful." He fixed Sky with a sly grin. "Why, she an ex-girlfriend of yours?"

"Pfft, hardly. She, uh, she owes me some money." Sky waved the bartender over again, ordering a beer to keep the conversation flowing. "Anyway, what have you been up to these past few years since you last saw her? Working?"

"Extended medical leave." Reno's lips twisted into some semblance of a sour smirk. "I fought in the recent war with Maleficent. My leg got all messed up in an explosion in some mountain base. Got an honourable discharge from the military and went back to working my old job, but the pain in my leg never went away, so I've been on long-term medical leave ever since. Works fine for me. I'm still in their payroll, yo, and that's all that matters. Am I right?" Reno raised his glass, as if toasting his fortune or his misfortune, depending on how one looked at it. He finished off the last drop of his drink. Sky grinned and ordered another one for Reno. It would seem he was a chatty drunk.

"Sounds like a sweet gig you got there, health care benefits and all," Sky replied, playing it cool. "What's the place you work at? Any chance they're hiring?" He laughed, pretending like he didn't already know that Reno worked for the Turks. Reno laughed too, taking a sip of his fresh drink, unaware of what Sky was playing at.

"Not sure if they're hiring, but if they are, they're not going to hire just _anyone_. You gotta be skilled, yo."

Sky raised an amused eyebrow. "Skilled at what, exactly?"

Reno smirked and took a sip before answering. "Fighting. Maybe killing. Depends on the job." He leaned back and let Sky ponder on that before continuing. "We're called the Turks. Our job is to guard whoever can pay for it. At all costs. Sound like something you can stomach?" Sky drummed his fingers on the bar top for a few seconds before leaning in, putting on his 'serious' face.

"I fought in the war too. I think I can handle a babysitting job."

Reno let out a sharp laugh. "Babysitting? Trust me, friend, the clients we take on are anything but babies. These are serious people with serious problems. They got hardcore enemies who want them dead and it's our job to make sure they stay alive long enough to pay us."

"Really?" Sky could sense he was on the right track with this line of questioning. "What kind of clients? Why wouldn't they simply go to the police?"

"'Cuz a lot of these guys are afraid of what the police might do if they found out what they're up to. The clients we get vary from job to job. I used to be a bodyguard for the Shinra Electric Company back when they were still in business. I tell ya, man, some of the horror stories I heard about those guys kept me up at night. But I was just a kid then. I've dealt with way worse things since those days."

"What kind of horror stories?"

"Shit you wouldn't even believe!" By this time, Reno was nearing empty on his third drink and his tongue had loosened considerably. "Like how they were keeping Heartless test subjects in the basement of their warehouse out on the outskirts of the city. Or how the Rufus Shinra himself was considering using the power of the darkness to seize control over Radiant Garden! I was fuckin' glad when Ansem blew the whistle on these guys 'cuz they were scaring the shit out of me!"

"Wow, that's pretty heavy stuff."

"You're telling me!"

"What happened after they shut down? Where'd your clients all go?"

"Fuck if I know! Once a contract is done, it's done. I don't look 'em up, I just take my money and move on to the next gig." Reno nearly stumbled out of his chair as he leaned toward Sky almost conspiratorially. "But I heard rumours that some of the scientists who weren't exiled got hired by some underground movement. You heard of the Righteous Hearts?" Sky resisted the urge to make a grimace, but instead shook his head, playing dumb. "They're the ones who have been setting off small bombs all over Radiant Garden, trying to fuck up everyone's shit, yo. I heard they got their hands on some of the scientists from Shinra to help them develop new kinds of weapons of mass destruction." Reno leaned back once more and nodded lazily. "But that's all just rumours and hearsay. None of my business."

"I see…" Sky gave Leon a discreet look, one that clearly said 'We got what we came for. Let's get the fuck out of here'. Leon nodded and Sky pretended to yawn, stretching his arms out. "Well, Reno, it's been real fun hanging out with you!" Reno continued grinning, nodding a thanks for the drinks. "Enjoy your medical leave and the rest of your night! I'll look into the Turks and see if they're hiring. Thanks for the tip." Sky left several munny bills on the bar top to pay for the drinks, and a bit extra for tip, and made his way out with Leon trailing behind.

When they hit the open outdoors, Sky whirled on Leon, his eyes brighter than Leon had ever seen them. "Did you _see_ that class act? I'm on my fuckin' A-game, son!" Sky did a dramatic fist pump while Leon merely chuckled at Sky's behaviour. "We got another lead! There's a warehouse to find and some missing scientists who may have wandered into the Righteous Hearts' realm. Let's-" He stopped talking abruptly when his hyper-sensitive senses detected movement on the roof of the bar. His eyes darted to catch the movement and he just barely managed to bring a shield up around him and Leon when he heard a gunshot go off. The shield flickered dimly as the bullet impacted on the surface and dissolved.

Leon shouted, "What the f-"

"Down!" Sky ordered, summoning his Keyblade to hand and using his other arm to shield Leon, as if the Protega bubble weren't already doing that. He fired a bolt of lightning to the rooftop, hoping to stun whoever was up there, but by the time the lightning bolt struck, the mysterious assailant was leaping to the next roof, a sniper rifle in hand. "Stop!" Sky aimed another bolt and fired, missing the attacker by a hair. Whoever they were, they were very good and very fast. Sky suspected that this was the same person who had attacked him earlier. Leon watched on anxiously, unarmed and unnerved.

Getting tired quickly of playing it safe, Sky let loose a wave of magic directed at the nimble assassin. "_Bind!_" There was a rush of green dust overtaking the attacker and they dropped to the side, ridged and paralyzed from the spell. Sky released a sigh of relief and was about the drop his guard when three more gunshots rang out. Tensing back up, Sky's eyes flew up to every rooftop, searching for more attackers. They seemed to drop out of nowhere, all dressed in black and their faces covered up, like the ninja who had attacked him after his meeting with Vincent. They were determined to stop him from pursuing Lucrecia at any cost.

"Don't you guys get tired of playing dress-up?" Sky mocked. Over his shoulder, he murmured to Leon, "Think you can take them without a weapon?"

"That's what all those Light lessons were for, right?" Leon replied, already charging up his mana. Shaking his arms out, he produced dual strands of electricity from his hands, essentially forming two lightning whips that crackled with power. "How many do you think there are?" Sky's eyes focused on the three in front of them while trying to catch any movement in the surrounding area.

"Four, maybe five." Rolling his shoulder and releasing some of the tension with a gratifying cracking noise, he grinned. "No problem!" He sprang into battle, attacking two assassins at once while Leon took on the remaining one.

The ninjas were agile, quick to dodge the initial attacks and take the offence. Sky found himself defending against surprisingly powerful attacks. His first instinct, of course, was to use Bind to sedate his attackers, but upon using the spell, he discovered that they had the same close-fitting Protega spell as his previous attacker. From the looks of their attacks, these people went beyond the standard training that Radiant Garden soldiers had received during the war. These assassins likely had prior experience with magic and hand-to-hand combat.

Leon side-stepped a kick and launched one of his electric whips at his attacker. It latched onto the ninja's arm, sending volts of electricity through his body. He stumbled backwards, trying to shake off the jolts and during that distraction, Leon elbowed him on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground. Meanwhile, Sky was sword-fighting with his two attackers at once. He parried back and forth, waiting for an opening, and when that opening came, he grabbed a hold of one of the assassin's arm, pulling him forward and using the leverage to stab the other in the leg with the first one's sword. As Sky had suspected, their own weapons could slice through their Protega shields. Who ever came up with this variation of a close-fitting magical barrier obviously hadn't worked out the kinks on weapon-handling.

"Leon, use their own weapons against them!" Sky called. Leon nodded, using his whip to snag his attacker's baton. Just before he could use it, two more ninjas jumped down from the rooftops and launched into the fray. Leon summoned a bit of Blizzard magic to create giant inverted icicles from the ground to provide cover. He ducked behind one pillar of ice and waited for the attacker to come get him. When they were in range, he cast Flare, a blinding attack that momentarily stunned his opponents, giving him the chance to land some hits.

Now that Sky knew what their weakness was, he took full advantage of it, landing some significant flesh wounds on his opponents. He had to actually restrain himself from inflicting mortal wounds, partly because Leon was right there, and partly because he needed to question these people. It would be hard to do that if they were dead. Still, being attacked by humans instead of Heartless only brought up bad memories of his war that he was trying shake, back in the days when Maleficent had used her mind-controlling powers to turn innocent people into puppets. What really boiled Sky's blood was the fact that these assassins were seemingly acting of their own free-will. Again, he was trying _very _hard not to kill them where they stood.

Back and forth, both parties attacked, the ninjas using stealth and speed while Sky and Leon used raw power and magic. However quick the ninjas were, though, they began losing ground as Sky's attacks were becoming more deadly and precise while Leon's magic got more creative. When it became apparent that these would-be assassins were losing the battle, one of them made a loud whistling noise. The others stopped what they were doing and slammed the palms of their hands into the ground. The air instantly filled with a thick black smoke.

"They're getting away!" Sky cried, covering his mouth and squinting to see. Leon growled.

"Not if I can help it," he hissed. He launched his whip out to the nearest shadow he could see. The whip latched onto something. "I got something! That better not be you, Sky!"

"It's not! Reel it in!" Sky called. Leon heaved with all his might until the person was within arm's reach. When the smoke cleared, all the assassins had made a stealthy retreat, all but one. The captured assassin struggled with the whip that bound him around the waist until Sky dropped down next to him, pulling off his mask. The man's face was gaunt and serious, his hair dusty blonde, his eyes stony and icy blue. Sky eyed him carefully, reading his character. Already he could tell that this man would be difficult to get any information from.

Leon was already taking a photo of the man's face for the facial recognition program on his mobile device. "According to this, his name is Shadow, no last name listed," he said to Sky, reading the information that came up. "He was member of the Shikari, an elite group of trained mercenaries and assassins. Yuffie used to be a member of the Shikari before she met me. Shadow went missing three years ago. I'm guessing that's when he joined up with the Righteous Hearts." Shadow turned his head away defiantly, refusing to acknowledge the information as true.

Sky turned to Leon and in a hushed voice, he said, "Let me handle this one. Whatever you do or whatever you see, don't interfere. I tend to get a little serious when I interrogate prisoners."

"Serious?" Leon asked. "How so?"

"Don't worry about. Just keep in mind; I know we need him alive." Something about what he said and the way he said made Leon shiver. He didn't want to imagine the kinds of things this mature and war-hardened version of Sora had to do to stay alive in his bleak future. Sky turned back to their prisoner, an angry look appearing on his face.

"Who sent you?" Sky questioned. Shadow did not reply, instead looking off in the distance. "I said 'who sent you'!" The assassin spit, just barely missing Sky's face. Hissing with annoyance, Sky backhanded Shadow, making Leon flinch. "Don't play this game. There's only two ways out of this alley. Body bag or cuffs. Now tell me who sent you! Are you with the Righteous Hearts?" Shadow began laughing in a low, smug voice.

"Your administration won't last…" he sneered. Sky bared his teeth and backhanded Shadow again.

"Where are the Righteous Hearts hiding?" he asked coldly. Shadow had resumed his earlier silence. "Start talking, buddy! You're not going anywhere else!"

"Forget it, Sky," Leon said, shaking his head. "He's not going to talk."

"What'd I tell you, Leon? Don't interfere!"

"Look, I'll call in a specialist to question him. Let's get him back to the castle."

"Not yet. I can make him talk." Sky grabbed the assassin by his shirt, shoving him roughly against the brick wall. "Where's Lucrecia?" he demanded, his voice booming and causing Shadow to shrink back but not enough to make him speak. "Answer me! Where is she? Where are the Righteous Hearts hiding?" Still no response. Sky changed tactics, getting eerily quiet, leaning in so Shadow could hear him clearly. "I promise you, if you don't answer me within the next few seconds, I'm going to break every bone in your body." To exemplify his point, Sky took one of the Shadow's fingers and snapped it backwards. Shadow made a muffled cry of pain, trying his hardest not to scream out and give Sky the satisfaction of knowing how much pain he was in.

Sky continued on in his quiet yet deadly voice. "I'm going to lacerate every inch of your skin and then submerge you in a tub of lemon juice." Leon looked as though he was going to pull Sky off Shadow, but he held back. Sky did warn him that he tended to get intense when it came to interrogation. "I'll pluck off your finger nails one by fucking one if I don't get a straight answer to my questions." Shadow was shaking now, visibly frightened of what Sky was actually capable. And the truth was he had no idea what Sky was capable, which only amplified the fear. Sky took a deep breath, pretending to control himself. "Now I'll ask you again. Where. Is. Lucrecia."

"A-a-abandoned warehouse! Outside of town!" Shadow blurted out, his voice shaking with terror. "I swear! Please don't hurt me!" Sky smiled, a striking contrast to his earlier serious face, and he released the assassin, dusting him off.

"There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" he said cheerfully. "Consider it your lucky day." With that, he punched Shadow hard in the face, knocking him out cold. "Stay." Turning to Leon, Sky said, "Call in castle security to clean up this mess." If their attack was an indicator of anything, it meant they were on the right track. It wouldn't be long before they had all the Righteous Hearts in custody.

(_**Apr. 29**__**th**__**, 2009 – ATL**_)

Large padded paws treaded across the savannah leading to Pride Rock. Not too many lions remained these days, many having been assigned to soldiers in the field as summons, the rest staying behind to ensure the hyenas didn't get out of line. Sora glanced around at what had become of Simba's kingdom. For a while, it had been green with life and buzzing with activity, but as more and more lionesses left the Pride Lands to aid in the war against Maleficent, the other herds grew too large, consuming more than what was available. The circle of life was thrown out of balance and the Pride Lands were barren as a result of the herds' excessive over-eating.

"Not a pretty sight, I imagine," said a voice behind Sora. He turned around slowly, his tail swishing gently in the breeze. There stood Nala and her maturing cub Kiara. "It's like nothing I do will ever make this place beautiful again…"

"It's not your fault," Sora said quietly. Nala bowed her head, looking sullen.

"Without Simba here, I can't maintain the circle of life. The herds are dying of starvation because there's too many of them and not enough food to go around." Nala sighed, shaking her head. "But I suppose that's not why you've come. Are you recruiting more lionesses for your war?"

"It's not 'my' war. It's everyone's war." Sora didn't like the way Nala seemed to imply with very few words that it was somehow his fault that the war was happening and it was his fault that they needed aid from the lions. "Look, I'm sorry that your numbers are thinning out, but we need all the help we can get to beat back the darkness." Nala turned her head away, a look of scorn crossing her feline features. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here. Is Rafiki around?"

"He's in his tree borough. Are you going to take him away, too?"

Sora frowned deeply and ignored Nala's last comment as he moved away from her toward the tree borough where the eccentric baboon lived. He slipped in slowly, his animal instincts on high alert for enemy activity. The tree was stripped bare of its leaves, a mere skeleton of its once former grandeur. The inside once housed a variety of fruits that Rafiki had scavenged around the Pride Lands, but now, he was lucky if he even had a few tangerines to last him the week. The wise baboon was sitting on his usual perch, a hand on his brow as if in deep thought. Sora quietly cleared his throat to get Rafiki's attention.

"Come, child," Rafiki announced, not moving or looking up. Sora approached at a cautious pace. There was always something about Rafiki that made Sora feel unnerved. But Rafiki was something of a confessor and the next best thing to a therapist, so if anyone would be able to provide Sora with guidance, it would be this wise yet peculiar baboon. "Tell me what is troubling you." There was a hint of hesitation before Sora opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm not sure… if I'm fit to be a leader… or the Keyblade Master," he admitted in a low voice. He had been feeling very unsure of himself for the last year, and with the recent death of Leon at Maleficent's hand and the anniversary of Riku's death coming up, the feelings multiplied. All he could think about was the shame and guilt and pain. How many people have died because he wasn't fast enough or strong enough to protect them? How many more would die because he was still feeling sorry for himself and not concentrating on the bigger picture?

He continued on, "Leon was captured and killed by Maleficent, and now everyone expects me to take over his commanding duties. But I don't know if I'm ready to do that! I'm…" He almost said the word 'scared' but stopped himself. He wasn't ready to admit his weakness just yet. Rafiki moved his hand away from his face and reached for his walking stick, lopping awkwardly towards Sora. He examined the young lion's face carefully, latching onto Sora's chin, turning his head back and forth.

"When I first met you, you wanted to know if you were fit to be king of the Pride Lands," Rafiki grumbled after a time, taking a step back. "And I told you 'no'. You were not the rightful king." He paused, allowing Sora to think upon that. "However… You have a destiny far greater than that of a king. You are the master of a legendary weapon that can either bring peace or destruction upon the whole of creation. You cannot deny this destiny." Sora looked down, his heart full of worry.

"I feel like… maybe the Keyblade made a mistake picking me. I mean, I couldn't even save my own lover from his fate-"

"That was out of your hands. You feel guilt for something you didn't do."

"I know, I've been trying to tell myself that for months, but it hurts so much!" And then, without warning, Rafiki brandished his staff and struck Sora across the head with it. "_Ouch!_ What the hell was that for?"

"It doesn't matter!" Rafiki said with a knowing smile. "It's in the past!" Sora opened his mouth to retaliate but instead found himself rubbing the sore spot on his head with his large paw.

"It hurts…" he muttered, disgruntled.

"The past can hurt, but you have a choice to either run from it or… learn from it." Rafiki went to strike Sora again, but Sora's instincts kicked in this time and he whacked the staff across the hovel. "Ah HA! You see?" Rafiki patted Sora's shoulder. "You mustn't look at it so negatively. Instead of dwelling on those you couldn't save, you should focus on those you _have_ saved. Think of the thousands still alive because of your heroic actions."

Sora looked down at the ground, pondering this advice long and hard. It was true that the number of people he had saved greatly outweighed the numbers he couldn't. Each life was precious. Even if he couldn't rescue every single inhabitant of a world, for each one he did manage to take to safety, it was one less lost soul. Rafiki was right in the end. Focusing on life rather than death turned Sora's whole outlook on everything around.

Seeing the twinkle of understanding in the lion's eye, Rafiki grinned. "These things take time, but you can only move on if you choose it."

"Right…" Sora nodded his head, a bit more determined. "Yeah! Riku would want me to stay strong. I'll honour his memory."

"Good! Now go be the leader you were born to be!" Rafiki patted Sora's shoulder and pointed vaguely to the entrance way, to the destiny that still awaited Sora.

Sora galloped out of the tree borough and across the desolate savannah with a renewed sense of purpose. He was ready to accept his responsibility. He was ready to be a leader that this war so sorely needed.

oOoOo

A/n: I love putting in cameo appearances of other characters. :) Don't forget to R&R! Even if it's just to leave negative feedback, like, "Sky/Leon? No way!" I like to read comments that will help me improve as a writer. Please and thank you!


	5. Chapter 5: Broken

**Timeless**

Chapter 5: Broken

(**Sept. 23****rd****, 2007 – CTL**)

The walk back to the castle was an uncomfortable one. Sky was very serious and focused, while Leon was still reeling from what he had witnessed in the alley. It was hard to believe that Sora could become such a vicious person under the right circumstances. Leon knew that Sky and Sora were two completely different people in a way, but he couldn't help but keep thinking of Sky as the boy who fell into Traverse Town, scared and alone, searching desperately for his friends. Now Leon was starting to realise just how different Sky really was.

"What?" Sky suddenly demanded, causing Leon to jump.

"I didn't say anything," he said.

"You didn't have to. I could sense you brooding over there." Sky stopped walking and faced Leon. "So what is it? Are you freaked out because of the way I treated that guy?"

"…Maybe." Leon looked away, pretending to find something interesting about the weapon shop across the street. "I've never seen you so cold."

Sky looked like he was about to sputter an excuse, but instead, he quietly said, "It was just an act."

"Yeah, but when does it stop being an act and start being reality? Where do you draw the line?" Leon was looking at Sky now, approaching him. He placed one hand on Sky's shoulder, looking him in the eyes. "Sky, you're not living in your timeline anymore. You don't have to be the harsh soldier all the time. The Righteous Hearts aren't nearly as big a threat as Maleficent was, so you can relax a little."

"Relax? Leon, in my time, these assholes kidnapped children and experimented on them! They tested anti-light weapons on entire cities to 'save' them from becoming Heartless! They fucking _are_ a threat! And we need to stop them before they do something horrible here!"

"I get that, I really do. But you need to calm down. Stop reliving your past! We're going to take care of it!" Leon let his hand drop away from Sky's shoulder, his eyes lingering on Sky's face just a beat longer than necessary, and he turned away to begin walking up the street. Sky watched him go for a few seconds, surprised that he had the courage to stand up to him. He churned Leon's advice around in his head. It was nearly impossible for him to relax. He had spent so many years on high alert that it became second nature to assume the worst when a threat emerged, and it was especially high when it concerned the Righteous Hearts. They were the ones responsible for his kidnapping, even if it was in an alternate timeline. They were the ones who nearly broke him.

(_**July 12**__**th**__**, 2008 – ATL**_)

If there was only one word that could accurately describe Sora's current state of mind, it would be "broken".

For days after his rampage in the Land of Dragons, he appeared vacant and lifeless. The usual child-like twinkle in his eyes was missing and in its place was jaded scorn. During the day, he went about his daily routine as per usual. He trained and worked out with the other soldiers, he attended the meetings with the generals, and he went on missions to recover refugees. He kept up the façade that he was fine and he was moving on. But it was all very robotic and half-hearted.

However, in the evenings, he struggled to sleep, he had nightmares, and he sought console and support from Kairi. More than once, she had to prevent him from leaving the castle grounds to go on another rampage. Over and over, he proclaimed that he was to blame for Riku's death, and each time, Kairi would have to talk him down. She did her best to alleviate his sorrow, setting aside her own grieving and toughening up to stay strong enough for both of them. But there was only so much she could do.

Deep in the night, Kairi was awoken by the sound of knocking on her bedroom door. She sat up and grabbed her sleeping robe from the foot of the bed, pulling it on as she answered the door. On the other side was Sora with tears streaking down his face. Without needing to be told what was wrong or why he was crying, she took him into her arms and held him close, letting him sob on her shoulder. So many nights were like this that she was used to it and she knew how to handle it now.

Blindly, she guided them both to her bed and sat him down, gently shushing in his ear and murmuring words of comfort. Nothing she said ever truly made his grief go away, but it did serve in calming down his episodes.

"Why couldn't I make him stay…?" he wept, his face practically drenched in tears. Kairi could tell from the amount of tears and the tone of Sora's voice that this would be a strong episode, and it would be harder to bring him out of it. There would be no sleeping tonight, if only to ensure he didn't do anything drastic. "Why couldn't I just win one game…?"

"It's not your fault, Sora. Even if you won, he would have still gone. He was so stubborn…" Kairi sniffed, wiping her eyes with her free hand. "It's not your fault at all…"

"Will it ever get better…?" he whispered, shaking still. Kairi pursed her lips, keeping them from trembling. "Do you think the pain ever goes away?"

Blinking back tears, Kairi replied, "Yes."

"Are you lying?"

"…Probably…" His grip around her waist tightened as a new wave of sobs began.

"Thank you." Kairi couldn't stand to see her best friend in this shape. Something had to be done. The war was still raging on around them, and their side was losing faster than ever before without their strongest warriors participating in the fighting. She needed Sora to toughen up, as selfish as it might have sounded.

"Listen…" she began, breathing in sharply. "You know Riku wouldn't want you to mope around forever, right?" Sora didn't answer right away, still racked with sobs. "I know it hurts. Maybe it always will. But we need to be strong. If not for his memory, then for everyone else who still need our help. We can't let the light of the universe go out; otherwise Riku and countless others died for nothing." Waiting patiently, Sora did quiet down after a minute or two. "Let's make a promise now. On the count of three, we're going to stop crying. I'm not saying we forget Riku's memory or become cold-hearted. We're just going to stop crying and we're going to focus on winning this war for him. Okay?"

"I can't…" Sora gasped, hiccupping slightly. "I can't…"

"Hey." Kairi pulled back to look Sora in the eyes. "Those are two words I don't want to hear together ever again. Understand?" Two tears trickled down Sora's face on either side of his cheeks. He squinted, gulping back more sobs, and nodded. "Okay. We can do this. We need to be strong." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself of her own advice more than Sora. "On the count of three. One…" For a moment, it appeared as though Sora would burst into tears again. "Two…" He let out a pitiful noise, clenching his teeth to hold back his tears. "_Three_." After one last gasp for air, the room went quiet.

Sora and Kairi blinked, staring at each other, holding their breaths. The tears stopped rolling. The sobs ceased. Their shaking was quelled. And like magic, they were done crying.

"There…" Kairi whispered, managing a weak smile. "That wasn't so bad…" Sora exhaled slowly, nodding, suddenly feeling drained, both emotionally and physically. He curled up on the bed next to Kairi, closing his eyes and falling asleep almost immediately. Kairi's smile slipped away. With wavering hands, she smoothed out Sora's unruly locks and wiped away the last of his tears. "Time to be strong…" And she allowed herself one last tear to roll down her cheek. "Being strong now…"

(**Sept. 23****rd****, 2007 – CTL**)

"Leon, wait up!" Sky jogged the short distance between him and Leon. "You're right, okay? I'm…" He swallowed the lump forming in his chest. "I'm sorry." Leon looked rather surprised. Sky was known for his stubbornness. Everyone knew that. He was very rarely apologetic for anything. Even Sky found himself surprised at his apology. He didn't know why he felt the need to say anything to Leon, but he was acutely aware that something about him was changing, something powerful.

"Sorry for what?" Leon finally asked, breaking the spell that had come over them. Sky stuttered a moment, unsure how to begin answering.

"For yelling at you. For interrogating that guy. For… not relaxing?" Sky ran his fingers through his own hair nervously as he sorted through his thoughts. "Trust me when I say I've been trying to take it easy and relax. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with. Everyone is always a bit tense in my presence 'cuz I think they keep expecting me to do something stupid and funny like my younger self would have done, but I'm not like him anymore. And I'm sorry I'm not."

"No, don't," Leon interrupted, this time putting both hands on Sky's shoulders. "Look, I when I say, 'Relax', I don't mean, 'Be more like Sora'. I just mean take it easy and think things through. You don't need to change who you are to do that, so don't apologize. We like you just the way you are. _I…_ like you just the way you are." Sky's breath caught in his throat at the tender look that Leon was giving him. That powerful _something_ was threatening to overwhelm both of them. It should have been obvious what the _something_ was, but Sky didn't want to put a name to it. He didn't want to admit it or give it a voice, but there was something terrifying about what was happening to him and his heart. It was filling up with an emotion he hadn't felt in over 6 years. It was also accompanied by a prevailing guilt.

"I…" he murmured. The guilt was painful, forcing him to pull away from Leon. "We should get back. We got a good lead so let's not waste it." Turning his back, he missed the look of deep hurt on Leon's face. Or perhaps he was purposefully avoiding it.

oOoOo

"Cid!" Sky barked as he and Leon walked into the security room, causing Cid to jump with alarm.

"Don't do that, kid!" he retorted. "I'm running on 8 cups of coffee right now!"

"Pull up a list of all the unused warehouses and storehouses on the outskirts of Radiant Garden. I want to know which ones Shinra was using." Cid set Sky with an intense glare. Sky rolled his eyes. "_Please?_"

"That's more like it." Turning around in his swivel chair, Cid got to work. With a speed and skill that only he possessed, he accessed the industrial database, pulling up a list of all the warehouses in Radiant Garden. He then narrowed the search results down to the ones owned by the Shinra Electric Company. Five appeared on the list. "What do you need these for? No one's used those warehouses in over ten years."

"Someone's been using them. The Righteous Hearts."

"How'd you find that out?"

"We captured one of their super ninjas," Sky said with a proud smirk. "Proving once and for all that pirates are better than ninjas."

"Whu…?" Cid stared at Sky with confusion, his unlit cigarette nearly falling out of his mouth.

"Get Yuffie, Tifa, and Aeris on the line. We'll get them to help with the other ops. What do you got for me, Cid?" Sky pressed on, ignoring Cid's dazed expression. Cid shook his head and went back to the console, bringing up addresses and maps. "Great. Send the information to my phone and dispatch four teams to check out the first four locations. Leon and I will lead a team to check out the fifth." For the first time since their awkward moment outside the castle, Sky chanced looking at Leon. The older man's face looked hardened and he was staring sightlessly off to the side, ignoring Sky's instructions. "Leon, we should move out."

"Whatever," he muttered as he pushed away from the wall he was leaning on and headed for the door. Sky blinked at the unnecessary hostility, trying to figure out where that had come from. Cid was watching their interaction without a word.

Sky sighed. "Keep me posted on the others' progress," he requested quietly to Cid.

Cid nodded. "You got it, kid."

(**Sept. 24****th****, 2007 (midnight) – CTL**)

A team of four soldiers and two commanding officers stood in a huddled ground just outside a dark, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. They had arrived ten minutes prior via a Corridor of Light, and they were now discussing their plan of attack.

"You two, bust open the door," Sky directed in a hushed voice, pointing at two soldiers. "Leon and I will take up the lead, and you two," he pointed at another pair. "You take up the rear. The rest of you stay outside and secure the building."

"Sir!" they said, saluting. They approached the entrance to the warehouse, a massive set of double doors made of aluminium roofing. The windows were all boarded up, making it impossible to tell how many were inside. There was a chain and padlock around the handles of the doors. One soldier immediately got to work, using a bit of light Fire magic to cut through the chain keeping the doors locked tight. As soon as he was through, he and his partner took firm grips on their respective door handles. In a silent countdown, they wrenched the door open at the same time. Sky, Leon, and two of the soldiers charged in, weapons ready, while the two who had opened the door took up positions next to the entrance.

The warehouse was dark, lit by the occasional hanging lamp, but even in the darkness, Sky could tell they were almost alone. There were no terrorists in this building, no initial indication that this location was ever used by anyone in the last ten years. Sky silently directed the soldiers to investigate one side while he and Leon checked out the other side. There were countless rows of metal shelving units lining the walls and creating something of a maze out of the expansive area. The shelves stretch up to the roofs, their spaces empty of any material or boxes. In the corner of one side of the warehouse, there was a set of grated stairs that led to the manager's office and the rafters. Still, there was no sign of life beyond Sky, Leon, and the other soldiers.

However, as they travelled deeper inside the warehouse, Sky caught a glimpse of a chair between two shelves. Getting closer, he saw a figure slumped over in the chair, bound by rope and gagged. The figure stirred as he approached, her eyes heavy with drowsiness and her face showing signs of abuse. She had bruises on her cheeks, a split lip, and a swollen eye. Sky's eyes widened at the sight. It was Lucrecia Crescent.

"Lucrecia?" he called. Her eyes went wide with fright and she began making muffled noises of alarm. "Hang on, we'll get you out of here."

"'Ooohh!" she cried, struggling to get the gag out of her mouth so she could speak. "'Ohgh koh ahee kyohyer! Harh a 'ong!" Ignoring her protests, interpreting it as fear of being arrested, Sky came up to her, removing the gag from her mouth, but as he did, he heard a distinct click noise, followed by a series of beeps.

"What was that?" he hissed, eyes scanning the surrounding area.

"You idiot!" Lucrecia screamed, her face white with terror. Leon and the other two soldiers were approaching them now. "I was trying to warn you not to come any closer! There's a bomb!"

"What?" Sky yelled, instinctively backing away from Lucrecia.

"It's a proximity bomb! Under my chair!" Sky dropped to the ground and looked under the chair, seeing a black box with two green lights and three red blinking ones duct-tapped to the bottom of the chair. "You set it in motion when you got too close!"

"Shit!" he growled, bringing up a Protega shield around the bomb to contain the explosion.

"That won't help!" Lucrecia explained desperately. "It's a two-part bomb! First, it releases an anti-magic wave, and then it explodes! Your spells will be useless!" One of the red blinking lights turned green. "When all those lights turn green, it'll go off!"

"Then let's get out of here before it does!" Leon ordered, already untying Lucrecia.

"It won't matter how far we run, that bomb has a ten mile radius! It'll take out a quarter of the city!"

"This just keeps getting better and better," Sky muttered sarcastically. Another red light turned green. "Then what the fuck are we supposed to do?" His mind was racing a mile a minute to come up with something to stop the explosion from going off. He began charging a bit of lightning magic to disable the electronics in the device.

"Don't do that, you'll only set it off!" Lucrecia warned, grabbing his arms as soon as hers were free.

"You got any bright ideas, Crescent?" Sky demanded. He froze up, an idea popping into his head. Shaking Lucrecia off, he quickly opened up a Door to the Light Realm and threw the bomb in, quickly closing it as the last red light turned green. A shockwave rippled out from where the Door closed, sending everyone in the room spiralling off their feet. And then it went quiet.

Sky sat up, shaking off the dizziness of his rapid mana-loss, and he quickly scanned the room.

"Everyone okay?" he asked, already checking on Lucrecia.

"I'm fine…" she muttered, pulling her arm away from Sky.

"We're good," Leon answered as he helped the two officers to their feet. "That was too close."

"This whole thing was a fucking set-up!" Sky roared, rounding on Lucrecia. "Crescent, you better start talking!"

Lucrecia looked rebellious, as though she was going to remain tight-lipped, but after a moment, she opened her mouth to speak. "I want full immunity."

"Are you serious?" Leon erupted. "You're looking at a life-sentence here for treason and conspiracy and god knows what else the Restoration Committee will charge you with! We trusted you and you broke that trust! Why should we grant you immunity and trust you again?"

"I was deceived!" bellowed Lucrecia. "My actions were not my own! I was forced into doing their bidding! They have a powerful mage on their side who can manipulate minds. He took away my free will and made me plant the virus! I swear I didn't do it on my own! I would never betray Radiant Garden!"

"Bullshit," Sky grunted. "What proof do you have?"

"Isn't the fact that they left me here proof enough? Left me here with a _bomb_ to kill me? I was never an important player in their game of politics! I was always just a pawn!"

"Then give us something. Where's their base? Who's their leader? What are they planning to do in two days?"

"Grant me immunity and I'll tell you everything I know. Leon, you have the power to do it, I know you can! You're an influential member of the Restoration Committee! Promise me I won't be sent to jail for the rest of my life!" Lucrecia's eyes pleaded with Leon. He appeared to be wrestling with his conscience over what to do. On the one hand, they really needed this lead, since the warehouse turned out to be a sham. But what if she was lying? What if what she says leads them to another trap? She could walk away from this thing without a shred of punishment and give them absolutely nothing in return.

"You should do it," Sky whispered discreetly in Leon's ear. "Her information could be valuable. If it turns out to be useless, we could always revoke her immunity." Lucrecia was looking back and forth between the men, trying to figure out what they were saying. Leon let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine," he said, addressing the desperate scientist. "You have _temporary_ immunity. Tell us what you know and we'll give you full immunity and clear your name. This is the best I can do for you. Deal?" He held his hand out. Lucrecia hesitated, unsure if it was really the best deal Leon could broker, but seeing the finality in his expression, she took his hand and shook.

"Deal," she mumbled.

"Good. Now start talking. Let's start with the most important question. Where are the Righteous Hearts hiding?"

"I don't know."

"What?" Lucrecia shrank back at Sky's enraged voice. "How can you possibly not know?"

"I was always blindfolded when I was taken to their headquarters and even then, I was restricted to their laboratories, so I don't even know who was running the operation. I told you, I wasn't a key player. They used me to distract you from their bigger prize."

"What prize?"

"While you've been tracking me down, they've been allowed to move freely through the streets. They have a plan to win over the people's affection by turning them against you."

"How?"

"I don't know the full plan, but they had me working on an airborne chemical as part of what they called 'Phase One' of their plan. The chemical will increase a person's aggression and may make them susceptible to violent outbursts, given the right trigger. My guess is that they plan to use it on a key member of the Restoration Committee to make them appear volatile to the citizens, and the citizens will demand a new administration, at which point the Righteous Hearts will assume control."

"How do we stop it? Is there a cure?"

"There's no cure but it doesn't stay in the system for long. And there's no solid way to prevent it unless you plan to make all the Restoration Committee members wear gas masks for the rest of their lives."

"How are they going to release it?"

"I don't know the delivery method they're planning to use. I was only responsible for making the chemical."

"God damn it…" Sky muttered, pacing back and forth. "You're not really earning your immunity, I hope you know."

"I'm sorry! This is all I know."

"None of what you're saying adds up to what we know they're capable of," Leon said. "They're destructive on a wider scope. If they wanted to tarnish a politician's image, they wouldn't make such a big fuss about it, all they'd have to do is dig up some dirt. Everyone's got skeletons."

"Yeah, Crescent, you sure this is their plan?" Sky added. "It just doesn't sound like the Hearts' MO."

"This is all I know about 'Phase One'," Lucrecia insisted. "If there's more to it, they certainly didn't tell me."

"What about the day you vanished? How did you escape?"

"I was instructed to plant the virus and meeting an operative in a back alley attached to the Marketplace, right in a camera's blind spot. They hoisted me up on the roof and put a black bag over my head so none of the facial-recognition programs would detect me. After that, I don't know where they took me."

"Well what about the laboratory? What can you tell us about that? What'd it look like? Did you ever hear anything strange or unique while you were there or on your way there?"

Lucrecia went quiet as she tried to remember anything helpful. "It was… moist, kind of swampy all the time. I remember asking them to adjust the environmental system, but they ignored my requests. I recall… it was so humid. Like we were close to a body of water or something. And I remember when they'd have me blindfolded, they were taking me through some kind of tunnel system. It echoed really loudly and there were water droplets. I would almost guess that the entrance was a cave, but the labs looked really sophisticated."

"How long have you been with them?"

"Almost two years. They contacted me shortly after I was hired by the Restoration Committee, but I turned them down. They were very persistent, so I agreed to meet with them once just to see what the deal was. I think that's when they started controlling my mind. There were days after that meeting where I felt like I was on autopilot, not completely in control of my own actions. And then there were days where I'd black out entirely and not remember doing things. After a few months, they came for me in the night, brought me to the laboratory, and forced me to work on dark-powered explosives. It's been like that ever since."

"Why didn't you tell anyone what was happening?" Leon asked. "We could have helped you break free."

"You think I didn't _want_ to cry out for help? Believe me, I tried! But their mage kept a tight leash on my mind. I was powerless to resist their orders. This is the first time in nearly a year that I've been free to speak my mind! They've finally deemed me worthless and they've released their hold on my thoughts."

"What about the mage? Can he control others?"

"Only one person at a time and only when he's within a certain distance. Before you ask, no, I don't know who he was except that he had strange purple-toned skin."

"Anything else?" Leon asked.

"Not much else… except that the equipment I was forced to use was fairly old, almost ten years old. A lot of it was probably lifted from Shinra's labs before Radiant Garden fell 12 years ago."

Sky was already on the phone with Cid. "Cid, pull up a list of all of Shinra's laboratories and research facilities. Send me the address. Leon and I will check them out."

"No such luck, kid," Cid replied. "Those buildings were knocked down years ago. They were one of the first places that got hit when the Heartless came. After the Restoration Committee was formed, we cleared the sites for new commercial buildings."

"What about their head offices?"

"Rezoned for condos."

"Those aren't near bodies of water anyway," Leon piped in. "We're looking for something near the lakes perhaps."

"Fuck, Leon!" Sky shouted, slamming his phone shut. "We're surrounded by water! They could be anywhere!"

"Relax…" Leon said in a quiet voice. Sky opened his mouth to retaliate but stopped, remembering that he was trying to take Leon's advice about taking it easy. He took a deep breath and pulled his phone out again.

As calmly as he could, he said, "Cid, pull up a list of all the structures located near any body of water and/or caves." He snapped his phone shut again. "Officer, please place Lucrecia in custody."

"What?" Lucrecia screeched. "I told you what I know! We had a deal! I get full immunity!"

"We will wait and see if anything you told us pans out, and from where I'm standing, you haven't told us anything helpful at all. I'm not the trusting type, lady. There's something you're not telling us. So until we get another lead, you get to stay in a holding cell." One of the soldiers stepped forward, taking Lucrecia by the arm and put a pair of cuffs on her slender wrists.

"This is ridiculous!" Lucrecia huffed as she was steered towards the warehouse doors. "I can't tell you something I don't know!"

Ignoring her protests, Sky said to Leon, "We better get back to the castle. We've got a long haul ahead of us."

(_**July 14**__**th**__**, 2008**_ _**- ATL**_)

Disney Castle was in shambles these days, overcrowded with refugees and soldiers. There wasn't enough rations to go around, not enough clean water to drink, not enough beds for people to sleep on. It was a miserable existence living there, even working there. Every time Sora had a meeting to attend in the castle's command centre, he dreaded it.

The world representatives filed into the command centre and took their respective seats around the large oval oak table. King Mickey assumed his position at the head of the table, passing out file folders for the generals to go over. Each folder contained a mission report that he had gone over and wanted input on. Kairi and Sora looked over their file. It detailed the possibility of an assassination plot on Maleficent's life.

"This could be the one, folks," the King announced. "According to our intel, Maleficent's flag warship will be entering a low orbit over Fantasia within the next month. Zeus has been working on thunder bolts that will act like an EMP blast. We will have a very brief window of opportunity to infiltrate her ship when he strikes it and knocks out the radar. Someone will be able to fly a fighter on board without being detected and they can plant an explosive in the power core, taking it out." He hesitated, looking out among his allies. "We need a volunteer for this. It's likely it will be a one-way trip, I'm afraid." Several commanders shifted uncomfortably. Sora blinked several times. King Mickey was asking someone to go on a suicide mission.

The tension in the room rose as the seconds ticked by and no one volunteered. King Mickey looked nervous, his eyes trailing over each face. He understood it was a lot to ask for someone to give up their life for a small chance of success, but it was their best and only shot. Sora looked around as well. The others looked like they were at least considering the idea. He made up his mind quickly.

"I'll do it," he said, standing up. The others gaped at him in shock. Kairi stifled a gasp.

"Sora, no…" she hissed, grabbing his hand. She feared he was still in his self-loathing mode and was looking for another excuse to get himself killed.

"No!" Yuffie cried unexpectedly. "No, you're too important! You can't sacrifice yourself!"

"If this works, then it won't matter," Sora said sullenly.

"Forget it," Yuffie snapped back. "I'll do it. I'm a ninja, I'll have a better chance of getting in undetected. Stealth is my business."

"Well tough, I already volunteered." The two looked at the King for approval. He looked back and forth between them, his eyebrows knitting together in worry.

"I'm sorry, Sora," he said after a time. "I'm going to have to give the mission to Yuffie. She's right; you're too valuable an asset to risk losing." Sora stared at the King in outrage, his mouth hanging open slightly.

"And, what? She's not important? She's expendable?" He balled his fists in anger, his eyes burning a hole in Mickey. "You can't just throw away a person's life like that!"

"Sora, please, it's okay," Yuffie tried to say, but Sora wouldn't listen.

"No, it's not okay!" he shouted. "It's not fair! The King gets to decide who lives and who dies! It's not up to the individual!"

"That's enough!" King Mickey said sternly, standing up from his chair.

"You just pass out missions without any regard to human life!" Suddenly, it was clear to many present that Sora wasn't just talking about this mission and Yuffie, he was talking about the Port Royal mission and Riku. "You don't care what happens to them so long as they provide results!"

"Sora, stop," Kairi whispered, squeezing his hand in a desperate attempt to quell his rage.

"It's your fault!" he cried, wrenching his hand out of Kairi's, pointing an accusatory finger at King Mickey. "You're to blame! If it weren't for you, he'd still be alive!" The room went silent at that accusation, everyone holding their breath, waiting to see what the King would say in response to that. Mickey maintained eye-contact with Sora, refusing to back down.

"You're dismissed, Sora," he said evenly. "I suggest you take some leave time. Obviously you're still distraught about your loss-"

"Fuck you!" Sora snapped. He roughly pushed his chair back, causing several people to jump with alarm, and he stormed from the room. Kairi stared at his retreating form, her eyes wide open. She had never seen Sora so angry, let alone heard him use such strong language before. Apparently the King was surprised by that as well. He stood at the head of the table wearing the look of someone who had just been slapped.

"I…" Kairi said, standing up. "I'll go make sure he's okay." It took a few beats for Mickey to come out of his stupor, but when he did, he nodded at Kairi, making a quick waving gesture to the door. Kairi bolted from her chair and out the door where Sora had disappeared.

She caught up to him far down the hallway, calling his name to get him to slow down. "Are you okay?" she asked quickly. "What's gotten into you? Why'd you snap at the King that way?" Sora stopped walking abruptly, turning to look at Kairi.

"It _is_ his fault! He's the one who assigned Riku to the Port Royal mission! He could have given that mission to anyone else, but he chose Riku! I practically begged him for that mission! But he turned me down! It's his fault! I'll never forgive him!" Someone had to be blamed, and if Sora wasn't allowed to blame himself anymore, he had to pass the blame to someone else. Without waiting for a response or a sign that Kairi acknowledged what he said, he resumed stomping towards his bed chambers. Kairi wouldn't have replied anyway, struck speechless by his allegation.

oOoOo

A/N: Ok, so this chapter's a little shorter than usual. I hope you're still enjoying the story! I love writing dialogue for Sky. He's so gruff'n'tough! And I love writing about his younger days and how he coped with his loss. Anyway, as usual, R&R!


	6. Chapter 6: Moving On

**A/N:** Sorry about the long delay. Got caught up in final projects, exams, Christmas holidays stuff, other generic lame excuses that you don't care about. :P But I'm back! So happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Winter Solstice/Whatever!

**Timeless**

Chapter 6: Moving On

(**Sept. 24****th****, 2007 – CTL**)

Sky made a loud, long noise, something of a sigh and a hiss combined. He was bored. As soon as he and Leon had returned to the castle with Lucrecia in custody, they had begun sifting through files trying to track down likely candidates for the Righteous Hearts headquarters that matched Lucrecia's description of the labs she was taken to. The whole Restoration Committee was on it and then some. But so far, the only matches they had managed to find were either demolished in recent restoration efforts or their purpose was accounted for and therefore stricken from the list.

"We've gotta be missing something…" Yuffie muttered as she loaded another warehouse description on her screen.

"Maybe they're based off-world," Tifa said with a yawn, stretching out her arms.

"No, they've been a thorn in our side since before the discovery of the Corridors of Light," Leon countered. "Besides, if they were using Doors, we'd have caught them by now."

"Maybe they have a gummi ship," said Tifa as she closed her eyes, resting her head on her keyboard and inadvertently typing a series of nonsensical gibberish on her screen.

"Again, we'd have noticed something like that earlier," Leon replied.

"Maybe…" Tifa shifted, getting comfortable. "M…" She began snoring, fast asleep.

Leon sighed. "It's pretty late. Maybe we should call it a day."

"Nonsense!" Cid exclaimed unexpectedly. "I haven't slept for days and I'm doing just fine!" Taking in Cid's unkempt appearance and the wild look in his eyes, it reinforced Leon opinion of needing sleep.

"At the very least, let's take a break," Sky agreed, already standing up. "I can't stand sitting in one place for a long time." He checked his watch. The numbers '3:35AM' glared back up at him. Late nights were not a problem for him, but they usually consisted of doing rounds around the castle or city. He never sat in a single room for more than a couple hours at a time. "I'm taking a walk."

"I'll come with," Leon offered, getting up from his chair. "I think a change of scenery is called for." Sky was a little surprised, expecting Leon to still be in a grumpy mood after the awkward moment from before. He shrugged it off, supposing that if Leon was willing to ignore it, then he should too. The two men left the security room, roaming down the halls of the castle in a neutral silence.

"How you holding up?" Sky asked quietly, breaking the silence. Leon shrugged.

"Well enough," he answered shortly. Sky huffed at the brief response and shoved his hands in his pocket. For some reason, it was even more awkward that Leon _wasn't_ bringing up their argument or the tension between them. But then again, Sky didn't expect as much. They were men, and men didn't talk about their feelings. At least that's how Sky saw it. But a small part of him actually wanted to talk about it. He just wanted to clear the air between them so things could return to normal.

"What's the first thing you're gonna do once we round up the Hearts?" he asked, hoping a light joke would help. Leon raised an eyebrow.

"I hadn't really thought about it…" he muttered, the corner of his mouth resisting the urge to turn upwards.

Sky smirked. "I'm gonna sleep for a few days." He glanced at Leon's reaction out of the corner of his eye. The older man was doing a poor job of concealing his smile. Sky considered that a victory. Maybe Leon wasn't mad at him after all.

Sky slowed down as he approached a doorway that led out to a balcony area. A memory surfaced in his mind's eye. Once upon a time that never happened, he had shared a tender moment with Riku on that very balcony. It had been before the two of them had hooked up, moments before the castle had been attacked by a swarm of infected refugees. Feeling curious, he stepped through the doorway, breathing in fresh air. It was calm and dark outside, very few lights on in the city below. Sky stepped to the edge and gazed down, letting his arms rest on the balcony railing. Leon joined him, eyes on the stars above.

"Can I ask you something?" Sky asked, still looking out at the city. Leon made a noise of acknowledgement. "Did you ever lose anyone in the first Heartless attack?"

"You mean when I was 17?" Leon clarified. "Sure. Everyone lost someone." He seemed to avoid answering fully, as if hiding a truth.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Sky turned around and rested his back against the balcony railing, placing his elbows on the railing behind him. "I guess I was just curious to know if you ever had to deal with a close friend or a loved one dying… I was going to ask for advice on how to cope and move on." Closing his eyes, he said, "I still think about my Riku sometimes and I know I shouldn't." Leon stiffened at those words but said nothing. "Even after all this time, it still hurts to think about it. Little things remind me of him."

"I guess it wasn't easy seeing Sora with him?" Leon asked, propping his elbows on the railing and resting his chin on his hands.

"No, I was perfectly fine with that. It was nice to see one of us get a happy ending. But… I dunno, I just can't help wondering if things could have turned out differently…" Sky hummed to himself and went quiet. He had no idea why he was sharing these thoughts, but somehow, he figured if he talked it out, it'd help him move on.

"I lost someone like that…" Leon said, his voice cutting through the silence. Sky stirred, opening his eyes to look at Leon.

"Really…? Like, someone you loved?"

"Yeah…" Leon made a 'tut' noise, looking away. "I've never told anyone about this. We were only together for a couple months before the Heartless struck. I was only just learning what love was, and I lost it." He turned back to Sky, looking him in the eye. "His name was Zell."

This new revelation hit Sky like a ton of bricks. He honestly wasn't expecting those words to leave Leon's lips. Not only was he admitting that he had fallen in love as a teenager, but he was also admitting that he was gay. That was just something Sky wasn't anticipating from 'straight-as-an-arrow' Leon.

"And… you've never told _anyone_ about him?" he finally said after nearly a minute of silence. Leon shook his head. "All these years, you've been dealing with that alone? God, I can't imagine how that must've felt…"

"He's the reason I stopped going by the name 'Squall'. He had this… way of saying it that made me feel…" Trailing off, he merely chuckled, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Clearly, articulating emotions was not Leon's strong point. There was so much he wanted to say, having never told a soul about his first love, and he was unsure where to start. Sky nodded insistently, suddenly curious to know all about the boy Leon once loved.

"Well go on, then! Tell me about him. Where'd you meet? What was he like?"

"Well…" Leon hesitated. It wasn't that he was afraid of Sky judging him negatively; it was just strange talking about something that had happened so long ago that he almost couldn't recall things clearly anymore. "He was really loud. Kind of obnoxious sometimes. But sweet. His heart was in the right place. Most of the time." Sky chuckled at that. "We met in gym class back in high school, grade 10, I think. He was on the karate team and I was on the fencing team. I don't remember how we met exactly, but somehow, we got into this habit of grabbing a slice of pizza after every practise and then, I guess… I dunno…"

"Oh c'mon!" Sky said, nudging Leon. "You can't tell me you don't remember how you and your first love got together! That shit stays in your mind forever!"

Again, Leon hesitated before quietly saying, "…It was a Friday night at his place. We were just settling in for an all-night movie marathon and… the first movie never made it to the player." He smiled wistfully at the memory. "It was one of the best nights of my life." His smile faded away, replaced by a forlorn frown. "When the Heartless attacked, we were at the front lines fighting. I was there when he was died, heart taken by the darkness. When I turned up in Traverse Town, I swore I'd find a way back to Hollow Bastion and avenge his death." Leon finished his story with a sad sigh. "I really miss him…"

Sky was staring at Leon with a mix of emotions, the ones surfacing above the rest being pity, astonishment, and maybe just a hint of jealousy. "He sounded like a wonderful guy."

"Yeah… But that was a lifetime ago. I've moved on since then."

"How? How does one get over the death of their first love?"

"I'm not sure. You just do. Maybe it starts with letting yourself fall in love again." Patting Sky's shoulder, Leon took his leave. "I'm heading home for the night. I'll see you tomorrow, Sora."

"That's Sk-" Sky stopped, his heart suddenly fluttering. He merely watched Leon leave, unable to control the rapid beating of his heart. Could it be that Leon wasn't just calling him by his original name to piss him off? Was there some other significant reason? It occurred to him that he didn't mind so much with Leon called him that, unlike Yuffie, who seemed to stretch out the syllables in an annoying way. When Leon said it, it was sincere, almost… cute.

That's when old memories began resurfacing, memories of when he was a teenager questioning his sexuality. He hadn't thought about these memories in so long, especially after he had confirmed in his heart that he was in love with Riku. No, there had been someone else before Riku, someone who had been a placeholder until Sky had his feelings sorted out. With startling clarity, Sky remembered that between his crush on Kairi and his love for Riku, he had had a brief crush on Leon, the mysterious, stoic, and somewhat handsome man whom Sky had known very little about back then.

The young Sora back then hadn't recognized those feelings for what they were, but the mature Sky knew what it was now. Those familiar emotions were rushing back at frightening speeds and they were ten times more powerful now.

"No…" Sky murmured to himself. "No way… Could I be…?"

"You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity?" said a sweet voice from the doorway. Sky glanced up to see Aeris joining him on the balcony.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, slightly panicked.

"Long enough to hear the beginnings of a one-sided conversation." As she got closer to him, she noticed the worried look on his face. "You look white as a sheet! What's wrong?"

"I think… I'm falling for Leon…" Sky admitted. Aeris' eyebrows shot into her hairline.

"And you're figuring this out _now_?" she laughed.

"Wait, you knew?"

"Of course I knew! I'm observant. Plus, you drag him out on all your little missions, even though you could probably handle it yourself."

"Who else knows? Does _he_ know?"

"I doubt it. Leon is very detached from everything. And I'm pretty sure no one else knows." Aeris watched as Sky nervously paced across the balcony, hands rummaging through his unruly spikes. "So? What's wrong with falling for him?" He was still sorting through his feelings, but despite all the obvious signs that he felt something beyond ordinary friendship with Leon, there was this undying remorse in the bottom of his heart that he could not dispel.

"If that's what it is… why does it hurt? Why do I feel this way?" Aeris eyebrows knitted together in worry.

"What way?"

"I dunno… I feel bad about liking him that way. Like I shouldn't. Like I'm not allowed."

"Is it… because you're still in love with Riku?" Sky stopped pacing abruptly.

"I guess… Maybe… I dunno! I mean, I'll always love him, but… shouldn't I have moved on by now?"

"Everyone's different. I'm not entirely surprised to hear you feel bad about loving someone else besides your first love. Just give it time." Sky was unconvinced. It had been more than enough time, in his opinion. There had to be more to it, like a resolution, something to force his brain to move on. But every time he thought about doing that, the guilt and shame grew worse. There was a wisp of a feeling that he was betraying Riku's memory.

"I'll try…" He suppressed a yawn and stretched out his arms. Aeris clicked her tongue.

"I think it's your bedtime." She turned to Sky, forcibly turning him around and gently pushing him towards the doorway. "C'mon on, now. Healer's orders."

"But Aeris, we have so much work to do!"

"_Healer's orders_," Aeris insisted, still pushing. Sky grinned, allowing himself to be pushed along. Good ol' reliable Aeris, always looking out for him, acting as a secondary mother of sorts. That was one thing he missed about her. It was something he'd never forget.

(_**Feb. 2**__**nd**__**, 2010 – ATL**_)

Aeris tiredly rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on the screen in front of her and having difficulty, even with the glasses on the bridge of her nose. The words on the screen blurred together in a nonsensical mess of text. It was past midnight and she was exhausted, but sleep was a rare commodity these days. The Versa-stigma disease was still running rampant among the soldiers of Light, and she was one of the advanced healers assigned to the task of finding a cure. For days on end, she sifted through ancient scrolls and texts trying to find a spell or a concoction that could counteract the illness or, at the very least, reduce the symptoms to make it more bearable.

Sighing, she set down the scroll she was currently checking against the information on her computer screen and stood up to stretch out her back muscles. She had a shift in the gummi shipyard in less than 6 hours, but she couldn't stop her research. So much was riding on the cure. For now, though, a change in scenery was called for. She left her office and walked down the empty dark corridors of Disney Castle, aimlessly heading in the direction of the Memorial Chamber.

In the Memorial Chamber, there were small 1 inch by 3 inch plaques on the walls for every soldier killed in combat or lost to the Versa-stigma. Large rectangular pillars spread throughout the large room were covered in plagues. The chamber was faintly lit by orange-hued lamps hanging from the ceiling. Aeris found herself visiting this room almost everyday to remind herself why she was fighting and why it was so important to find that elusive cure. She wanted the number of plaques to stop increasing. There were far too many to count.

Pausing as she rounded a corner, Aeris spotted another figure standing in front of a wall of names. Marlene, the 13-year-old adopted daughter of Barret, was staring at the plaques, a sort of glazed-over appearance on her face. Aeris opened her mouth to speak but paused when she noticed which name Marlene was staring at.

_Denzel…_

"Denzel was your friend, wasn't he?" Aeris asked quietly, standing next to Marlene. The little girl didn't reply. Aeris sighed. She knew the story of Denzel. He was an orphan who had lived with Cloud and Tifa before Maleficent's attacks, and when the war broke out, he signed up to be part of the war effort in Radiant Garden. He was assigned to Sora's gummi ship crew and only six months into his service, he was killed by a Heartless. Aeris had been the healer on site who had tried to save his life when he was brought to Disney Castle, but she had been unable to do so. She still got choked up when she remembered him in his last moments of life. He had been so young, only 14-years-old, but then again, that's how old Sora was when he had been dragged into this whole Heartless mess.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Aeris asked Marlene, rubbing her shoulders in a motherly way. Marlene said nothing. She continued to stare blankly at the list of names. "It's very late. Maybe we should get you back into bed." Aeris went to steer Marlene towards the door but the girl would not budge. Frowning, Aeris knelt low so she could see Marlene's face. The little girl's eyes were vacant of life, devoid of emotion. It was enough to make Aeris worried. "Marlene, honey?"

Then, without warning, Marlene's hands latched onto Aeris' neck, squeezing tightly. Aeris cried out in alarm, quickly pushing the girl off and backing away. "What's gotten into you?" she demanded. Marlene did not reply. She lunged at the healer again. Her attacks were vicious and without remorse, fist flying and trying to grab at Aeris. Aeris blocked and defended, casting a prototype magical shield she was developing known as Protega. A blue bubble formed around her body.

Marlene repeatedly struck the shield. The whole bubble flickered with effort. Aeris was breathing heavily, unable to understand why the girl was attacking her. She must've slipping into a psychotic state because of the strains of the war. Or maybe it was sleepwalking. Or maybe it wasn't Marlene at all, just a Mimic. As all these possibilities went through Aeris' mind, her mana slowly depleted and her makeshift Protega barrier failed. Marlene dove at the healer, using her fingernails to scratch Aeris' face. Despite the attacks, Aeris couldn't bring herself to attack back. Whatever the reason, she knew in her heart that this fierce girl was still sweet little Marlene deep down inside. Beyond those vacant eyes was an ominous presence suppressing Marlene's normal features. Maybe, just maybe, she was under some kind of hypnosis. Someone was controlling her actions.

Aeris tried again to restrain Marlene, grabbing her arms and holding her to the ground. Marlene thrashed about and kicked Aeris in the chest until she was free once more. She ripped a few of the plaques off the wall and whipped them at Aeris with frightening precision, like throwing daggers. Unprepared, Aeris gasped when several of the plaques sliced through her skin like blades and lodged into her chest and abdomen. Brandishing a plaque like a weapon, Marlene approached Aeris and went to slit the healer's throat, but Aeris, in a burst of adrenaline, grappled Marlene's hands. Her eyes searched desperately for some kind of humanity in Marlene's face, but there was nothing there, just a blank slate being controlled from something afar. Whatever it was, it didn't show signs of slipping up. With a hint of fear, Aeris knew she only had moments to subdue Marlene and heal herself or else she would be killed.

Feeling her strength leaving her, Aeris pressed the palm of her hand against the girl's forehead and fired a powerful blast of electricity straight into Marlene's skull. Marlene screamed out in pain as the energy coursed through her. For the briefest of moments, there was a transference of thoughts and Aeris caught a glimpse of some dark presence in Marlene's mind. Pulling away sharply, Aeris realized with startling clarity that somewhere deep inside, Marlene was being controlled by the dark queen of the Heartless, Maleficent, herself.

Marlene stumbled backwards, her brain essentially fried, and she collapsed on her back, blood trickling from all orifices in her head. Aeris lay on her side, too weak to summon the magic necessary to heal herself. Her breaths came in sharp, shallow intakes, and the wounds on her chest and stomach bled through her clothes, forming a small pool beneath her. She numbly gripped one of the plaques still buried in her chest close to her heart and pulled it out, gasping in pain. Staring at the name, her eyes filled with tears. The name on the plaque was Cloud Strife.

Down the hall, Sora was just leaving the training room, wiping his face with a towel. Whenever he had restless nights like these, he found that working out helped relieve tension and put him to sleep. He passed by the Memorial Chamber, deciding to stop by to pay his respects to Riku's memory, a habit he had picked up a few months after Riku's funeral.

As soon as he walked into the chamber, his senses were immediately on high alert. He could smell the distinct coppery scent of blood and felt the tingle of discharged magic coming from somewhere in the room. All the tension he had just released from his workout session was back as he crept into the room, ready to summon his Keyblade at a moment's notice. He noted a few red droplets here and there as he edged deeper into the room until he saw blood splatters all over the floor. Rounding a corner, he saw two figures lying on the floor, little Marlene and Aeris, one looking dead and the other dying.

"Aeris!" Sora cried, dropping down beside her. His eyes darted over to Marlene's prone body, seeming to be the victim of a violent electrocution. Seeing there was nothing he could do for her, he focused his full attention on the dying woman in his arms. "What happened?" He quickly set to pulling the plaques from Aeris' chest and stomach, trying to heal her but the wounds would not seal.

Aeris' eyes zoned in on the person in front of her. "Sora…?" Her voice was faint. "Where'd you come from…?"

"Who did this to you?" Sora asked quietly, using the towel around his neck to staunch her bleeding.

"Marlene…" Aeris' hand twitched as she pointed in Marlene's vague direction. "She attacked me…" Her hand dropped as she struggled to breathe. Sora was using his Scan technique to see why his healing spell wasn't working. Aeris' left lung was punctured and several other organs were lacerated. Simply put, she was internally bleeding and her lungs were filling with blood. She was going to drown. These wounds were too severe for him to deal with on his own, but there wasn't enough time for someone else to reach them. Still clinging to hope, Sora pulled his mobile device from his pocket, calling the night shift healers.

"Code 6, code 6!" he said into the mouth piece. "Memorial Chamber! Hurry!" Putting the phone down, Sora held Aeris' hand and smoothed out her hair, wiping the blood from her cheeks. "It's going to be okay, Aeris. You're going to be fine." His eyes shifted back to Marlene's body. "Why would she…?"

"She wasn't herself…" Aeris whispered, her lips getting blue. "Maleficent can control minds…"

"What? H-How?" Sora's brief surprise was interrupted by Aeris' abrupt coughing, blood trickling from the corners of her mouth.

"Is she okay?" Her eyes went wide. "Did I hurt her…?" Her voice trailed off as her breathing stopped and her eyes went unfocused.

"No! Just hang on a little longer!" Sora pulled a tuft of phoenix down from his supplies pocket and placed it above her body. It glowed briefly for a moment and then stopped. Sora let out a frustrated growl. "Dammit, no! Why won't it work?" He cast Heal over and over again, refusing to give up, long after the spark of life had left Aeris' eyes.

By the time the night shift healers had arrived, Sora was completely out of magic and had resorted to CPR. He refused to let her go. It was only when one of the healers put a hand on his shoulder that he finally snapped out of it and stopped everything, simply staring at the body in his arms. Numbly, he passed her off to the healer beside him and stood. He watched for a moment as they went through the same steps he had just went through, trying to revive her, but when it became apparent that she was beyond help, they called the time of death. They then proceeded to check on Marlene's body to determine her cause of death.

Sora stared down at his bloody hands, blocking out the outside world. What if what Aeris said was true? What if Maleficent really could control people's minds? She could make anyone an enemy. She could have spies throughout all chains of command. She could even control him! Or King Mickey!

Sora bolted from the room to go pass along the news of this potential danger to the other commanders. They needed to know what happened here. They needed to know what happened to poor Marlene and Aeris.

(**Sept 25****th****, 2007 – CTL**)

The day was spent searching through the archives for all the buildings built anywhere near the lakes or caves system in Radiant Garden. Sky was starting to lose hope fast as the hours went by. How was it possible for a terrorist group as large as the Righteous Hearts exist in a world as small as Radiant Garden without anyone catching them sooner? By the time the sun was setting on the fourth day of their investigation, Sky was in hysterics about their lack of pursuit.

"Hmm… What about the shipyard?" Tifa offered, tapping her screen.

"We already went over that one last night," Aeris groaned, holding the bridge of her nose. "It's not it."

"What about the seaside shops?"

"Nope."

"We're fucked!" Sky suddenly declared with an angry certainty, knocking over a stack of files. "Undeniably, certifiably FUCKED! There's no way we're going to be able to catch those Righteous assholes before tomorrow! We got no leads, no clues, and no fucking idea where they'll strike or how! _We're SO fucked!_"

"Calm down," Leon sighed, rubbing his forehead, fending off a headache. "We still have time and we got one lead."

"What lead?" Sky snapped.

"You." That answer momentarily stunned Sky into silence, for he was not expecting such a reply.

"What d'you mean?"

"You were in their custody, even if it was an alternate timeline. You've gotta know something!"

"I've been trying to remember, believe me! But I can't!" Sky choked on his own breath, catching himself saying the two words he hated hearing together. There was a strong pang of guilt for going against his own philosophy, or rather, the philosophy he had adopted from Kairi. "I've already told you all I know, and most of it isn't even relevant anymore. We've diverged so much from my timeline that there isn't even any point discussing this!"

"They held you captive somewhere. It's possible that location is still their headquarters. You've got to remember!"

"Trust me when I say I've been trying. There's just no way to bring the memories back. They're just…" He trailed off, realising that what he was about to say wasn't entirely true. "…gone…" That last word came out as a faint whisper as he suddenly turned to leave.

"Sky!" Leon called after the younger man.

"I know how to get them back!" With that, Sky created a Door to Light to take him back to the island he thought he'd never visit again.

oOoOo

Kairi giggled pleasantly at a joke that her friend Selphie made, covering her mouth in a polite way. School was over for another day, so they were making the walk back to their homes where they could get dressed into more comfortable clothes and head out to the ice cream shop for a quick snack.

"I can't believe she said that!" Kairi exclaimed with a wide smile on her face. She was about to say more but paused when she saw a figure standing across the street leaning against a tree. She stopped walking, prompting Selphie to stop as well.

"What's wrong?" the younger girl asked curiously. Kairi quickly covered up her shock with a light smile.

"Oh, I just remembered I left a book in my locker at school. You go on ahead of me. I'll catch up later!" Not entirely convinced but not bothering to argue, Selphie resumed walking towards her home. When she was out of sight, Kairi quickly crossed the road and approached the dark-clad Sora-look-a-like. "Well hello, Sky."

Sky smirked, unfolding his arms. "Hello, Princess. And how are we today?" Kairi grinned, embracing Sky warmly.

"I'm great! It's so good to see you again!" She pulled back, suddenly worried. "Oh no, something bad hasn't happened, has it?" Sky chuckled, patting Kairi's arms.

"No, not yet anyway. I need your help." She unconsciously straightened up a little as Sky assumed a somewhat serious face, launching right into an explanation for his visit. "I hate to ask, but you're the only person who can do this. I need you to use Naminé's powers to unlock a memory. It's important because it could lead to discovering where the Righteous Hearts are hiding out." Kairi looked properly stunned.

"Me? I don't really know how to access Naminé's powers! I barely know how to communicate with her."

"I'm sure it's somewhere inside you. That kind of power doesn't just vanish into thin air." Kairi began worrying her bottom lip, thinking over Sky's request.

"Do the others know you're here?"

"No, not yet. And don't change the subject. Will you help me or not?"

She sighed. "I suppose I'll try. No guarantees, though."

"If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. Simple as that." She brightened considerably upon hearing that. As much as she liked being of use to her friends, she hated having that much responsibilities on her shoulders. "I suggest we reconvene at your place."

"Actually, it might be better to go to Sora's place. Out of all our parents, Sora's mother is handling him being a Keyblade Master better than the rest of them, so I doubt she'll have a conniption if she sees you."

"Fair enough." They began walking in the direction of Sora's home. Sky couldn't help but let his eyes wander over the familiar surroundings, the houses he used to pass by all the time when he was a kid, the shops where he used to get sweets, the streets and sidewalks he knew like the back of his hand. The last time he was here, it was right after falling from the sky and nearly drowning in the ocean. His visit then had been very short, simply there to deliver a warning and take the trio to Disney Castle so they could begin preparing for a war. He couldn't help but reminisce about the days when he still lived here, enjoying a carefree life like any other child of Destiny Island.

"You okay?" Kairi asked quietly, disturbing his inner contemplation. She had noted the faraway look in his eyes and the distracted way he was walking.

"Hmm?" He clued back into reality and focused in on what Kairi just said. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just…homesick, I guess. I never realised how much I missed these crummy islands until I was cut off for 6 years." He sighed quietly, thinking about what Kairi had said about Sora's mother handling the news of him being a Keyblade Master very well. "I guess I miss my home and my mother." Kairi eyed him with trepidation, debating if she should ask a question that had been burning in her mind ever since they had first met.

"What ever happened to Destiny Island in your time?" she asked finally. Sky went quiet, suddenly finding the concrete sidewalk more interesting than answering Kairi's question. She quickly regretted asking, seeing that it was making Sky uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories-"

"It was destroyed," Sky interrupted, forlorn and still avoiding eye-contract. Kairi covered her mouth in shock. "Within an hour of the last Princess of Heart dropping dead, it was gone. I guess Maleficent figured it was about time. No need to keep it around." He looked up towards the horizon past the houses and trees, in the distance where the ocean was visible and the sky seemed to go on forever. "There was no trace of it left…" He never had thought too deeply about it when he had received the news the day it had happened, but only now did he feel the tremendous weight of loss on his heart.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Kairi, taking Sky's hand. "But you're here now. And that's all that really matters." Sky looked down at their linked hands, smiling faintly. It always seemed like Kairi knew what to say or do to make him feel a little better.

"Yeah. It was over two years ago by my perspective. It never happened." He gestured to the land around them. "It's still here, right?" Kairi smiled and nodded.

"Thanks to you."

They arrived at Sora's house and knocked. The door opened wide and Sora's mother was standing in the doorway, grinning.

"Oh hi Kairi, I-" She stopped when she noticed the older version of her son standing before her and she gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "Sora, is that you?" She threw a glance over her shoulder. "But you were just in the backyard!" She looked at his face again. "What happened to you? You're so much older-looking!" Sky smiled sheepishly, suddenly feeling shy and awkward, like this was his first time meeting his own mother.

"Yeah, about that…" he said, scratching the back of his head. "Didn't anyone tell you there are two of us?" Understanding flooded Mrs. Kaikatsu's face as she remembered the whole explanation she had received six months ago from Kairi and Sora.

"You're Sky? The one from the future?" Sky nodded. He was startled when Mrs. Kaikatsu gave him a crushing hug. "Oh, they told me how horrible things were for you! I'm so sorry you had to go through that!" Sky couldn't help feeling light-headed, almost overwhelmed with emotion. It had been so long since he had seen his mother and he just getting used to the idea of never seeing her again, but this unexpected visit left him somewhat breathless. She pulled back and frowned in a disappointed-parent sort of way. "And just why did you wait until _now_ to visit? Why not six months ago when the war ended and everyone went home? Or a year ago when you first arrived here?"

"It… it was complicated!" He hadn't been expecting a lecture but considering the kind of person his mother was, he wasn't entirely surprised, just caught off-guard. "I guess I wasn't thinking-"

"You never think, you big goof!" She had to stand on the tips of her toes to reach his hair when she ruffled it. Kairi laughed heartily at the gesture while Sky could only stand there, feeling embarrassed and amused. "Oh god, look how tall you've gotten! Should I expect my Sora to go through a growth spurt too?"

"If he keeps drinking his milk…" Sky said with a smirk.

"Well come inside before the neighbours think they've gone crazy." She side-stepped, allowing Kairi and Sky to walk in. "Sora and Riku are out back." Kairi and Sky smiled their gratitude and made their way through the house and out the patio doors attached to the kitchen. They found Sora and Riku sprawled out on the grass, making out.

"Hey, get a fuckin' room, you two!" Sky jokingly snapped. Sora and Riku sprang apart, as if jolted by an electric shock, and stood up, their eyes full of surprise.

"Sky!" Sora cried, throwing his arms around his older counterpart. "Oh wow, I missed you!" When he moved off, Riku extended his hand, but Sky would have none of that. He pulled Riku into a hug, patting the silver-haired teen on the back.

"Welcome back. I hope this is just a casual visit," Riku said with a smirk. "No warnings or messages of danger, right?"

"Why does everyone think I'm the bearer of bad news all the time?" Sky laughed. "Can't I ever just come by for a casual visit?" He paused, sweeping a gaze amongst his friends and observing their sarcastic and sceptical smiles. "Ok, fine, it's not quite a casual visit," he finally admitted with a shrug. "But it's not horrible. I need Kairi's help to find the organization responsible for a string of terrorist attacks in Radiant Garden."

"You mean the Righteous Hearts?" asked Sora. Sky nodded.

"As you know, I was taken by them a year and a half before I travelled back in time. But the problem is I can't remember any of it, just faint wisps of memories. So I don't know who was responsible or where they were holed up. No one ever disclosed that information to me because I was in the hospital for months recovering." He jutted a finger in Kairi's direction. "That's why I need Kairi to use Naminé's power to retrieve those memories."

"But I don't know how to access that part of my heart," Kairi explained, waving his hands a little with distress. "I was hoping I could get some help. Sora, you've been working on communicating with Roxas, right?"

"Well sorta…" Sora said, folding his hands together behind his head. "I've only been experimenting with meditation for the last little while. But I've managed to have a few conversations with Roxas. It's kinda neat!" Sky was a little surprised Sora was continuing with his own personal training. It had been such a struggle to get him to cooperate back when they were training for the war against Maleficent, so it was nice to hear that it was paying off, all the lessons about meditation and self-discipline. "Let's go up to my room where it's a little quieter."

"Keep the door open, kiddies," Sky joked as he found a comfortable spot on the ground to sit. Sora stuck his tongue out at Sky before going back into the house with Kairi close behind. With them gone, it left Sky and Riku alone. An awkward silence descended upon them. Sky cleared his throat. "So how have you been since I left you guys?"

"Pretty good," Riku answered truthfully. "You?"

"Not too bad, other than the run-ins with the Righteous Hearts cowards." Sky unfolded his arms and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, looking around. "So what about things between you and Sora? You treating him right?" Riku held a hand up, as if he were swearing on a holy book.

"Promise." He smiled. Sky nodded his approval.

"And your parents? They're okay with everything?"

"Sora's mom is totally cool with it. My parents… are a little reluctant, but we got a deal. Sora and I don't talk about our relationship at my house and we don't make out in front of them. In return, they don't harp on us for being together." Sky smiled wistfully.

"It's weird, my Riku and I never had to go through that drama." He felt himself sinking into familiar memories and emotions, so he pulled himself out back into reality. He began thinking about his new feelings for Leon. It was strange how seven months ago, he had told Sora that he'd never be able to love again, but Leon was changing that and it almost scared him. "Can I ask you something?" Riku nodded, sitting on the grass next to Sky. "If… something ever happened to Sora, would you ever be able to move on?" Riku's eyebrows shot into his hairline at that question. He quietly mulled it over before coming up with an answer.

"I don't honestly know. I want to say 'no' but I can't predict if I'd ever meet someone just as wonderful as Sora." He put on a sly grin, nudging Sky in the ribs. "Why, thinking about murdering him and taking his place?"

"Pfft, you wish," Sky laughed, pushing Riku back. He sobered up, trying to get to the point of his question. "I guess what I mean to ask is, would you want Sora to move on if anything ever happened to _you_?" Riku sighed, leaning back to think. He sat up straight after nearly a minute of silence and stared Sky in the eyes. Sky stared back, waiting with bated breath for Riku to answer.

"Of course I'd want you to move on," the silver-hair teen said very seriously. He wasn't speaking hypothetically. He knew exactly what Sky was referring to, so he made sure that his words would not be misinterpreted. "I would never want you to spend the rest of your life holding a torch for me if I was dead. I wouldn't want you to be miserable. I would want you to find love again." Sky's eyes shone with something deep and penetrating that Riku almost lost himself in those eyes. It was a cross between gratitude and remorse.

"It's not that easy, I guess," Sky finally said, looking away. "I'll always feel a heavy guilt about falling for someone else. I know it's been over six years since I lost my Riku, but it still hurts, and every time I look at another guy, I can't help but feel like I'm betraying him somehow." Riku took Sky's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You're not betraying me, er, him. You know what I mean." Sometimes it was difficult to talk about himself but referring to a dead version of himself from an alternate timeline. "If it means anything, I'm giving you my blessing. If there's someone else who makes you happy, then go get them!" Sky's lips twitched into a brief smile as the wind blew through, ruffling his hair and clothes. "Is there someone else? Is that why you're asking, because you feel guilty about falling for them?" Sky laughed sharply.

"Am I that transparent?" Riku cocked an eyebrow and smirked, folding his arms. Sky sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah… there's someone." This had Riku's interest now.

"Who?"

"I'm not telling. If it doesn't work out, then at least I don't feel so stupid because someone else knows." Well, someone else besides Aeris, but he didn't have to tell her. She just knew.

"C'mon, when am I ever going to meet the guy?"

"You'd be surprised." Sky stuck his tongue at Riku exactly the same way that Sora had just done a few minutes ago. Riku grinned again. Every time they saw each other, Sky was becoming more like his old self. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, waiting for the other two to return. Sky sighed, still feeling a heavy burden in his heart. Even though Riku had just given his blessing, Sky still felt an ache he couldn't describe, like a longing or a regret.

"Can I ask one last favour? If you're not comfortable with it, that's fine, just say so." He pursed his lips and turned to look at Riku again. "Could I… could I just…kiss you? One last time?" He chuckled quietly, feeling nervous for asking but feeling the need to ask anyway. "I just feel like I could get some closure out of it. I never said goodbye to my Riku the day he left and was killed. Maybe if I do this, I can finally move on." Riku looked quite shocked but not entirely put off. He glanced towards the house where Sora and Kairi were meditating in solitude to reach their Nobodies. His gaze landed on Sky once more, the older brunet waiting patiently for an answer to his request.

"I kinda feel like it'd be cheating…" Riku answered, wincing. Sky looked like he was deflating. "But… you _are_ Sora. So… technically, it's not cheating. I'm sure my Sora would understand." He shrugged, leaning forward. "If it'll give you the closure you need to move on, then I'll do it." Relief filled Sky's heart.

"Thank you." He moved closer to Riku, gingerly placed his fingers on Riku's cheek. It had been so long since he had kissed another person, he was almost afraid he wouldn't remember how. His heart was thumping so loudly in his chest, he was certain it would burst. He was full of emotions that were threatening to spill over. The distance between their lips disappeared and a mere fraction of an inch away, Sky paused, whispering the words he had longed for so long to say. "Goodbye, love." And then he kissed Riku.

Never had Sky ever savoured a kiss the way he was doing right at that moment with Riku. He felt Riku's timid fingers lace through his unruly brown locks, deepening the kiss, moving his lips over Sky's. The brunet let out a near silent moan, pushing his lips against Riku's a little harder. He felt a brush of a tongue against his lips and gasped slightly, not expecting this level of passion from Riku. While it was not entirely unwelcome, it was certainly bordering on dangerous. Before things progressed too far, Sky pulled away, his eyes still half-lidded. Both were breathing heavily. Riku watched him with a hint of trepidation, eyes dilated and tiny beads of sweat prickling his skin, wondering vaguely if this was such a good idea after all.

"You okay?" he whispered, placing his hands on the brunet's shoulder. Sky stirred, looking up at Riku.

"I guess you're not him after all," he whispered, smiling slightly. "Your kiss is just a little different." Riku shrugged, unsure how to answer that. Sky smiled warmly, looking a little more like his younger self. "But thank you. I think I'm ready to move on." Riku returned his smile.

"I'm glad to hear it." At that moment, the screen door opened and Kairi and Sora walked out. The two men did their best to pretend like nothing was out of the ordinary. Sora looked back and forth between the two, a ghost of a frown grazing his face.

"What's up with you two…?" he said slowly.

"I'll tell you later, babe," Riku said. Sora gave him a sardonic smile at the nickname accompanied by a look that said 'You better.'

"We think we got it!" Kairi exclaimed happily. "Sky, if you want to lie down on the grass, I'll trying my best to unblock your memory." Sky did as he was instructed, lying out on the grass while Kairi sat down behind his head. She placed her hands on either side of his head while Sora and Riku took up seats a little bit away. "I warn you, it's going to feel weird, maybe even a little painful. Naminé warned me that recovering a memory isn't the same as breaking a memory chain or rewriting one."

"I'm prepared to do anything to protect Radiant Garden," Sky said firmly. Kairi released a deep breath and began putting herself into a trance to utilize Naminé's witch-like powers. Sora and Riku watched on in amazement. Her hands began glowing as she delved into Sky's memories. They played out before her like a movie. From a distance, she could make out the distinct chains of specific memories. It was difficult to tell which memories were from what point in his life.

"I need a reference point. Can you bring up the last memory you had just before you blanked out?"

Sky struggled a moment to remember. "It was the night of the winter festival." As he spoke, in Kairi's mind's eye, she could see a memory flash to life in Sky's brain. "The King thought it would be a good idea to lift people's spirits." Sky winced as he started to recall that night with clarity. "There… was a little girl…" His memory chain started with the winter festival and turned black several links in, looking deliberately tarnished.

"I found the block," Kairi murmured. "I'm going to try clean it up a bit." She worked her magic carefully, trying her best to use a power that was still new to her to link a shattered memory back into place. She grimaced, having a difficult time getting things to line up. Sky flinched, feeling a stinging pain in the base of his skull and the front of his forehead. It faded after a moment and he thought he was okay, but the pain returned another minute later in full swing. Despite the pain, he refused to back down. Retrieving this memory could be crucial to ending the terrorist cell's activity.

"I can't do this…" Kairi muttered, taking a second to catch her breath and sensing Sky's discomfort. "I don't think it's possible." Sky opened his eyes, frowning.

"Remember what I said about never wanting to hear 'I can't'?" He sat up and gently put his hands on Kairi's shoulders. "You were the one who told me that." Kairi blinked as this new revelation sunk in. "You are a goddess. You had the universe's unlimited knowledge in your head for short time. You're capable of anything if you put your mind to it." Kairi fidgeted with her fingers, wringing them together in a nervous fashion.

"Maybe this is beyond me…" she whispered. "Maybe…" She trailed off when Sky put one finger on her lips to silence her. He smiled encouragingly.

"Just try one more time." Kairi blinked a few times before nodding. Sky laid himself back on the grass with his head by her knees. She flexed her fingers and placed her hands on either side of his head again, concentrating deeply. It was easier reaching the blocked memory this time around. Summoning all the strength and light inside, she forced herself behind the block and delved into the memory itself.

Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light as Kairi finally managed to lock the chain of memories back together. She gasped as images flooded both her mind and Sky's.

oOoOo

A/n: Cliffhanger! XD Sorry, couldn't resist. Just hang on, all will be revealed in due time!


	7. Chapter 7A: Trapped in a Memory

**Timeless**

Chapter 7-A: Trapped in a Memory

(_**Dec. 22**__**nd**__**, 2011 - ATL**_)

Sora mulled around the festival square despondently, feeling distinctly detached from the merry people around him. This was a time of celebration, even if many had nothing to celebrate. There were plenty of drinks to go around, to toast to fallen allies, to forget their worries and pain, to pretend for just one night that a war wasn't raging on around them. It was King Mickey's idea to hold this celebration to boost morale, since many people were feeling hopeless and there had been a string of recent mass suicides among the soldiers and refugees. While the festival may have been lifting people's spirits, it did nothing for Sora, who felt he was already too jaded to be brought back to a happy state with a mere party.

He broke away from the group, wanting to be alone for a little while. The only reason he chose to show up was to make sure things didn't get out of hand, but their revelry was proving to be too bothersome. He had been opposed to the idea in the first place, seeing it as a resource-draining vain effort to cheer up a castle of miserable people. He felt their time could have better gone to use planning strategies to break through Heartless blockades and counter world invasions. He, of course, had been outvoted by everyone.

As he wandered down an alley attached to the festival pavilion, he couldn't help but think how much of a fool King Mickey had become. His decisions were turning more and more absurd by the day and he seemed distracted all the time. Sora scoffed. He wasn't much of a leader, but he knew he could do a better job than the King.

"Excuse me, mister," said a timid voice. Sora turned to see a young girl, probably about 7 or 8-years-old, holding her hand out. "I lost my mommy. Could you help me find her?" His heart broke just a little for her. She was dressed in rags, her green hair, probably once a vibrant colour, was matted and tangled, and her face was streaked with dirt. She looked like she had been living on the streets for a long time and in all likelihood, her mother was probably dead. She continued to hold her outstretched hand, waiting for Sora to take it.

"When did you last see her?" he asked, leaning forward to talk to the girl. She looked like she was about to cry.

"I don't remember," she whimpered. Unable to stand the thought of her living on the streets, Sora took her hand, already digging through his brain for an idea of where to take her. But as soon as his hand connected with hers, she shouted, "_Bind!_" With his defences down, Sora's body seized up. He was paralyzed from the neck down.

"You…!" he growled, realising he had been tricked. The girl backed away a safe distance, her eyes full of fear.

"I'm sorry, mister Sora," she whispered. "They said they'd kill my mommy if I didn't do as they said…"

"Who?" Sora's eyes were wild with rage. The very thought that someone was threatening this child filled him with such intense anger. Before the girl could answer, a dark-clad figure wearing a mask appeared next to her, grabbing her around the waist and covering her mouth when she tried to scream. "Hey! Let her go!" He struggled to overcome the effects of the Bind spell but was unable to do so. And then, a black bag was pulled over his head and a strange scent was forced into his nostrils, the potent smell of chloroform. His brain went fuzzy as he lost consciousness.

oOoOo

Sora awoke many hours later, feeling groggy and sore. His head was pounding and he felt faint, almost nauseous. The room was spinning, but from what he could tell, he was in a large medical examination room. It was poorly lit by a single florescent bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Good to see you awake," said a voice nearby. Sora turned his eyes to the direction of the sound and saw a man in a white lab coat approaching. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the famed Sora, Keyblade Master and leader of the free resistance. But where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Hojo and I am the head behind the Righteous Hearts." He held out his hand, as if actually expecting Sora to shake it, but that's when Sora realised he was strapped in place to a laboratory table. His first instinct was to fight back against his bonds, trying valiantly to lift his arms and sit up, but to no avail.

"Ah, I wouldn't bother to struggle if I were you. It's really pointless. Those are magic-reducing, light-suppressant cuffs around your wrists and ankles. We took every precaution to be sure you wouldn't escape, otherwise where would our research data come from?" Dr. Hojo smiled cruelly.

Sora eyes darted around the room, looking for some kind of way to escape. "What happened to that little girl?"

"Oh, Rydia? She was of no further use, so she was terminated." Sora froze upon hearing that. He knew the Righteous Hearts were ruthless, but this was first time seeing it up close.

"You killed her? She was just a child, for god's sake!" He renewed his efforts to break through the bonds holding him down. He wanted nothing more than to rip Hojo apart for his crimes against humanity. The doctor merely smirked at Sora's vain efforts, clearly taking pleasure in watching the useless attempts. Sora growled, narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth. "What do you want with me?"

"Well, I'm so glad you asked," Dr. Hojo said, delighted. "According to our reports, lifted from Disney HQ, you are the only human to have become a Heartless…" He consulted a notepad from his desk next to the table and pretended to skim the report that he had no doubt already taken the liberty of memorizing prior to their meeting. "…and reverted back to your human self." He let the document fall carelessly back to the desk and turned his full attention back on Sora. "What I'd like to know is what makes you so special? Why, out of all the people whose hearts have been consumed by the darkness, are you the only one to have come back from that?"

Sora forced a cocky grin on his face to cover up the tension and anxiety he was feeling. "You got me. I have no idea." He needed to stall for time, just long enough to figure out a way out of this. There was no way the bonds holding him down could keep him there indefinitely. He focused inward, trying to draw out the light in his heart to free himself or summon his Keyblade, but the light evaded his grasp. He couldn't do anything, no Keyblade, no magic, not even a spark of light. His anxiety grew more intense.

"I figured you wouldn't be giving up that information so easily," Dr. Hojo said as he stepped closer, reminding Sora that he wasn't alone and he was still trapped. "But luckily, we have many different methods of obtaining the information we want, with or without your help. And quite frankly, if you choose not to assist us, that only makes things a little more…shall we say… _fun_." He retrieved a small notepad from inside his lab coat containing a checklist. "We'll begin with a pain tolerance test. We'll be pushing you to your absolute limits so we know just how much pain we can inflict on you before it becomes lethal. The last thing we want is for you to drop dead in the middle of an experiment." The doctor laughed hollowly at his own brand of humour, causing shivers to run down Sora's spine. "We shall start with flesh wounds and move on to magic damage and internal injuries, and then wrap things up with psychological tolerance." He advanced on Sora with a scalpel drawn. "Are you ready?"

oOoOo

There was a faint stench in the air, the coppery scent of blood, accompanied by the trickling noise of dripping fluid. Sora's finger twitched. There were streaks of blood running down the table top from gashes on his wrists and all along his upper torso.

"I think that's enough for now, Lucrecia," said Dr. Hojo as he wrote something on his notepad. "His tolerance to severe blood-loss is incredible." His assistant Lucrecia lifted Sora's limp arm from the table and wrapped a bandage around the open wound. She murmured a quick healing spell to stop the bleeding and seal the wounds on his chest and stomach. Sora blinked slowly, feeling light-headed and sick. He could barely see straight and he was losing the feeling in all his extremities. It had only been a few hours since he had awoken, but it already felt like a lifetime.

"You have an amazingly strong heart, Sora." Dr. Hojo folded his arms over his notepad, grinning proudly, as though looking upon a star pupil. "You didn't even cry out when I made all those incisions. I'm impressed." His malicious grin widened. "I can't tell you what an honour it is to have this opportunity. It's only been five hours, but I've already collected a great deal of data from the couple of experiments we've run so far. I'm actually rather giddy right now." His voice sounded deranged, as though sanity had long since abandoned him. "I almost want to jump ahead of myself and cut straight to the chase. But a good scientist never goes ahead of schedule. We have plenty of time." He consulted his checklist. "The next on the list is oxygen deprivation."

He nodded to Lucrecia, who disappeared into a room adjacent to their current room and retrieved a bucket of water, a damp towel, and a ladle. Her movements were robotic, almost as if she were under a trance. But that was the least of Sora's concerns at the moment. She placed the towel over his mouth and nose, cutting off his air supply, and proceeded to pour a large scoop of water over the towel. Sora was suddenly alert as water flooded his nostrils and invaded his lungs. He tried to scream and shout, but the towel over his mouth prevented that. His arms strained against the straps as he slowly drowned, tears of pain streaking down his face. His lungs were burning as they filled with liquid and his head thrashed back and forth as much as the straps would allow. Dr. Hojo was recording everything on his notebook, taking notes on the readings his equipment was giving off.

Just when Sora thought he would pass out and die, Dr. Hojo waved his hand leisurely, indicating to Lucrecia to stop. The downpour of water stopped at once and the towel was removed. Sora gasped for air, turning his head to couch and sputter out the water in his throat. Each quick breath he took felt like a million sharp knives in his chest and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a big gulp of air in his water-filled lungs. Dr. Hojo watched him struggle to breathe for a few seconds before signalling Lucrecia to heal him. One heal-spell later, and Sora was breathing normally again.

"Excellent…" Dr. Hojo murmured, taking more notes. "You're doing very well, Sora." Once the scratch of pen to paper stopped, he nodded at Lucrecia. The towel was put in place again and the flood began once more. Sora made a suppressed shout as his oxygen was cut off.

oOoOo

Sora was dumped haphazardly into a dank cell many hours later. His wrists were bound with magic cuffs to prevent any mana usage. As soon as the cell door shut behind him, the cuffs dropped off and the room was spelled with the same anti-magic enchantment. Sora groaned, rolling from his stomach onto his back and rubbing his wrists out. He took a look around his cell, getting his bearings. There was a small dirty mattress in the corner, its fibres long since worn to the point that all that remained was the outer shell, a few loose springs, and the occasional bit of fluff remnants of the inside stuffing. In the other corner was a dilapidated rusty sink and toilet. There were no windows and the only source of light was streaming in through the bar door from somewhere down the hallway.

Sora took his time hauling himself onto the rundown mattress, still feeling quite light-headed and sick. If he was to escape, he needed to get some rest and regain his strength. Not even the musty smell in the fabric of the mattress or the damp mildew would prevent that at this point. Somehow, he knew he wouldn't have long. The scientists would return and the torture would begin again if he couldn't find a way out of this.

Based on what he could see when they had dragged him from the laboratory into the dungeon, he was in a large complex of maze-like hallways and other lab rooms. Judging by the humid atmosphere, he could only assume he was close to a body of water, like a swamp or a lake. There was even a good chance that the complex was built under the lake. But without visual evidence, he couldn't be sure. The number of scientists didn't seem high, but then again, he had only seen a few. The men who had dragged him to his cell were definitely not scientists. They were likely mercenaries for hire, working for the highest bidder.

As he drifted off into a fitful sleep, Sora was already formulating a plan of escape. He'd have a narrow window of opportunity when they came to retrieve him for the next series of experiments. It would be his only shot of knocking out the guards and escaping, but he'd have to time it right. He only prayed that they would underestimate him and send maybe only two or three guards. He could handle that many in his current state, magic or no magic. He just needed to get some sleep.

It felt as though only a few minutes had passed when he was jolted awake a few hours later by the sound of the cell door opening. His heart rate increased as he became alert, keenly aware of his situation and looking out of a chance to get the upper hand. As luck would have it, only two guards had arrived to carry him out. One was approaching with the cuffs while the other was readying a baton in case Sora resisted. Sora pretended to be dazed for a moment, waiting for the guard with the cuffs to get closer.

As soon as he was in range, Sora sprang into action, landing a well-aimed punch straight into the guard's stomach. The guard doubled over in pain, dropping the cuffs on the ground while the other guard lashed out with his baton. Sora blocked the blow with his forearm, reaching inside the guard's defences and grabbing him by his shirt, pulling him off his feet and slamming him into the ground. Sora kicked the second guard in the head and elbowed the other in the back. Without waiting to see if they were recovering, he made a dash for the open door.

No sooner had his feet touched the outside of the cell, he felt an incredibly strong jolt of pain in the base of his skull. He screamed out in pain, dropping to his knees and grabbing the back of his neck.

"I wouldn't try that again, if I were you," said a crackled voice. Almost blinded by the pain, Sora struggled to lift his head to see who was coming down the hall. He heard the squeak of old wheels rolling towards him and saw a figure in a wheelchair, his bald head gleaming in the somewhat dim florescent lights. Recognition dawned on Sora.

"You…" he hissed, swaying as he tried to get back on his feet. "Finkelstein…?" Before the man answered, he pressed a red button on a remote in his hand and Sora was suddenly filled with intense pain once again.

"Yes, boy. It's been a while since Halloween Town, hasn't it?" the wheelchair-bound scientist laughed as he released the button. Sora dropped to his knees as the pain lifted. "I can still recall the screams of pure true horror as my world burned. As _you _let it burn, Keyblade Master." There was such a strong tone of hatred and bitterness in Finkelstein's voice that it almost made Sora flinch. He remembered all too well. He had arrived too late to save the world of Halloween Town when the Heartless armies had arrived to either convert or wipe out the inhabitants. All he could do was rescue a handful of residents.

"Just so you're aware, before you try anything stupid again," Finkelstein called as he got closer, waving the remote menacingly. "We took the liberty of inserting a chip in your neck to prevent you from getting out of control. Anytime you misbehave…" He demonstrated his point by pressing the button again and Sora cried out when he felt volts of electricity course through his body. "You get the point." Dr. Finkelstein let up on the controller. "You have a choice here and this will be your only time to choose. Either you do as we say and things go relatively smoothly, or you don't cooperate and we still get what we want, only it will be ten times more… uncomfortable for you."

Sora was breathing heavily, rage filling his entire being. He was completely at their mercy, unable to do anything now. He could've chosen to resist, to make it more difficult for them to get what they wanted, to stall for time in the hopes that someone outside would notice his absence and find him, but somehow he knew it wouldn't make a difference. So saving himself the tiniest bit of grief, he grit his teeth and nodded. The guards in his cell had recovered and were now slapping the cuffs on his wrists, pulling him roughly to his feet. Dr. Finkelstein smirked.

"Good boy. I knew you'd see things my way." He turned his chair around and wheeled back in the direction he came. "Guards, take him to Lab E. Dr. Hojo will be with him shortly."

A new plan was already forming Sora's mind. He had to find a way to steal that controller from Finkelstein if he hoped for the chance to escape. Then it occurred to him that the chances of there only being one remote control were pretty slim. He would have to determine if there were others, how many, and where they were. As he was hauled down the corridor, he looked up at the ceiling, noting where each of the security cameras were. It would come in handy, he figured, if he needed to take out some guards in a camera's blind spot, but as near as he could tell, all the corners were covered. There was literally no chance of escape. They arrived in Lab E and he was shoved towards the examination table.

"Lie down," one guard coldly ordered. Sora didn't comply, staring at the table with indifference. The guard took out his baton and smacked Sora's shoulder with it. "I said lie down!" Sora turned his rebellious look on the man.

"Don't think you've house-broken me yet, asshole," he growled. A second later, there was a painful jolt from the chip in his neck and he crumbled at the knees. The guards used the opportunity to cease him around the arms and force him on the table, strapping him in place. At least it proved one thing to Sora. He was being watched at all times by someone who had a remote control besides Finkelstein. His hope was slowly diminishing.

oOoOo

"Good morning, Sora," said the bright and perky voice of Dr. Hojo as he bustled into the room, clipboard at the ready. "And how are we today?" Sora grimaced, refusing to play along with the doctor's sick game. It had been days of the same routine and torture. "That good, hmm? Well you'll be happy to know, we have a guest assistant today. Allow me to introduce Zemus, our resident Lunarium and a powerful mage." In behind Dr. Hojo walked a bald, aging old man with skin a distinct shade of purple, donning a long decorative black cloak. He had cold white eyes that regarded Sora as though he were vermin. "He'll be assisting in a very important experiment today. Would you like to know what it is?"

"Go to hell."

"I'll take that as a yes. We want to know how your Keyblade works in conjunction with your heart. But we know you won't willingly show it to us, so that's where Zemus comes in. Would you like to know what his specialty is?" Sora turned his head away, trying valiantly to block out the doctor's voice. "He can control minds. Remember all those puppets of Maleficent's? He's the reason we have a cure for that spell of hers, but the only way we found the cure was from doing these kinds of experiments. Maybe now you'll have a fonder appreciation for the work we do." Sora made a sceptical noise.

"Unlikely."

"Think of it this way. What we learn from you and your heart can be applied to all the soldiers in the field. Imagine a legion of Keyblade-wielding warriors! People with a resistance to the darkness and unable to be turned into Heartless! Maleficent's resources would dry up as we cut her numbers down! We could win this war if only you'd cooperate!"

"You're sick…" Sora muttered. "You're fucking twisted. This isn't the way…"

"Hmph." Dr. Hojo seemed annoyed by Sora's words for the first time. "You say that now, but I don't see you complaining when you and your allies use our research to reclaim mind-controlled people from Maleficent's clutches." He turned to Zemus. "You have the floor, Master Zemus. Let's start slow today and get him to move his arms." The mage nodded and stood above Sora's head. He wore a look of heavy concentration as he placed his hands on either side of Sora's head. For the most part, Sora didn't know what to expect and didn't know how to defend himself accordingly.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence and Sora clung desperately to the hope that this Zemus character was a fraud and he wasn't capable of doing any magic at all. But then there was a foreboding presence in Sora's mind, like a heavy hand squeezing his heart, blurring his vision, making him hear things that weren't there.

_Move your left hand._

Sora clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out the voice in his head. There was a strong and sudden urge to actually move his left hand, but he suppressed the urge. His breathing became ragged as the voice grew louder and more insistent.

_Move your left hand._

It was proving difficult to ignore the request. Something about it was overpowering his normal train of thought, making him believe that it was _his_ idea to move his left hand, but his rational mind kept trying to tell him otherwise. Sora jerked his head to the side, trying his best to break free from the hold that the invisible hand had on him.

_Move your left hand!_

"No!" Sora cried out loud. Zemus seemed surprised at the outburst, taking a step back. He turned to look at Hojo.

"He has a strong mind," he said quietly. "This may take longer than anticipated."

"Take as much time as you need," Hojo replied, grinning his regular grin. "We have all the time in the world down here." Zemus nodded and resumed breaking down Sora's mental defences. Gritting his teeth, Sora let out a quiet groan as his left hand twitched, aching to obey the order to move. Minutes passed by and evolved into nearly an hour, nothing but Zemus making the same demand over and over again within Sora's mind. And each time, it brought Sora closer and closer to the edge of submission.

_Move your left hand._

"No…" he croaked. "No, no, no…" He could feel the last of his mental strength leaving him, nothing to hold back the invasion.

_Move your left hand!_

Something snapped. "N…" Before he could finish that word, he felt his left hand move on its own, rising up as much as the restraints would allow, and he flexed his fingers. Zemus smiled cruelly.

"Good," he murmured.

_Move your right hand._

This time, there was little to no resistance on Sora's part. He could feel his consciousness slipping away, being pushed to the further corners of his mind where he had no control over what his body did. His right hand rose up and flexed his fingers.

"He is subdued," Zemus announced.

"Good…" Hojo said as he joined Zemus' side. "We'll have to put him to the test. Guards, undo one strap if you please." Two guards stepped forward with just a hint of hesitation from the one who had been struck by Sora earlier in the week. Doing as they were told, they undid the strap on Sora's left arm, allowing him free movement. The first thing he would have done at that point was grab a hold of one guard and slam him into the other, then use the momentary distraction to undo the other strap, at which point he'd regain his light and mana-usage and he'd bust himself out of this mess. But his brain seemed incapable of giving out orders anymore. It was like he could think and observe from an objective point of view, but at the same time, he was a blank puppet just following orders without a single thought going through his brain.

"Bend your arm at the elbow," Zemus commanded out loud, as if to demonstrate to Hojo his awesome power. Sora complied, lifting his arm up and bending it at the elbow. "Wave your arm from left to right." He did exactly as he was told, left to right, left and right, back and forth. _This isn't good at all_, he thought to himself. If they had control over him, it meant they had control over his Keyblades as well and that was not a good thing to lose control of.

"Excellent work!" Dr. Hojo exclaimed. "You shall be commended accordingly! I see I made no mistake recruiting you." Thinking himself brave, he approached Sora and poked the young man's cheek. "There, Keyblade Master. Was that so hard? All you needed to do was let go and allow us to do the thinking." Without warning, Sora let out a sharp bark-like noise and struck Dr. Hojo with his free left hand. The guards quickly latched onto the offending arm and restrained it back in the straps while Dr. Hojo dashed backwards, holding his injured face. Blood trickled down his split lip, and it was clear from his facial expression that he was terrified. The surprise and fear ebbed away until all that remained was fury. His eyes flashed dangerously at Zemus' face. "You said he was subdued!"

Zemus sputtered incoherently for a moment. "He _was_! I don't know what happened!"

"Perhaps it was premature of me to commend you. Fix it so he doesn't do that again!" With that, Dr. Hojo stormed from the room to seek medical attention. Sora would have smirked proudly if he could, but his mind had receded once more into submission. His momentary burst of action was a fleeting last chance for freedom that he doubted would come again, so long as Zemus still breathed.

oOoOo

"Today, we'd like to experiment with your Drive ability," Dr. Hojo announced as he bustled into the room with Zemus and two guards trailing close behind. "According to some sporadic reports, you have a habit of transforming into some kind of grotesque Anti form that you aren't able to control very well and can't return to normal until your Drive energy is consumed. I'd like to see that Anti form, if I may."

Sora's first instinct was to forcefully object and point out the dangers that his Anti form possessed, but then it occurred to him that it may be his only chance to escape, even if his feral mind wouldn't be able to figure it out once he lost control. If he could cause enough damage and chaos to throw everyone off, then he stood a chance, even if it meant sacrificing a small slice of his light to do it.

With that in mind, he made no attempt to block out Zemus' magic when the old mage attempted to suppress his conscious mind into obedience. After a few tests to ensure they had complete control, Dr. Hojo called for the experiment to begin.

"Drive into your Valor form," Zemus commanded. There was a sudden bright burst of light as Sora did as he was told, his enhanced uniform allowing him to transform into a stronger and faster soldier. But beyond the transformation, he still lacked control. Unsatisfied with a successful Drive, Zemus ordered, "Revert." There was another flash of light, smaller this time as Sora reverted back to his normal self. As he recalled, his Anti form was a random encounter and one could never predict when it would occur when he used his Drive ability. The only way he had managed to keep it at bay was by transforming into his Final Form, a form that never failed to work and never allowed the dark remnants in his heart to spawn his Heartless echo.

"Drive again into Valor." Again, another flash of light and Sora was enhanced by his uniform's magical properties. And again, Zemus was disappointed with the results, commanding Sora to change back. Three more times, this routine was carried out and each time, Sora's Drive ability did not fail. He was beginning to get nervous that perhaps his Anti form would never resurface, since he had used his Final Form far too many times to avoid the darkness.

But then on the sixth try, instead of luminosity upon using Drive, there was a sudden burst of dark mist around his body as his mind slipped away completely, leaving behind only a sinister craving for the light in a human's heart and savage need to rip it from that human's body, to shred flesh and consume purity in its raw essence. Without a mind to control, Zemus no longer held sway over Sora's actions and he realised this in a quiet panic. There, instead of a Keyblade Master, lay a beast eternally shrouded in darkness and shadow, eyes glowing an eerie gold, hands mutated into claws, wisps of black smoke trailing from its ebony skin. It regarded the people around it with a hungry gaze, letting a low, long snarl emit from its mouth where sharpened teeth awaited its first victim.

Dr. Hojo, unaware of the dangers, approached the Heartless-like beast slowly, scribbling notes down in his notebook faster than the average person could move their hands, murmuring over and over again, "Fascinating…" Meanwhile, Zemus was silently and desperately trying to regain control over Sora's mind, unwilling to admit that he had just put everyone's lives at risk by forcing Sora to become a mindless creature. And Sora merely waited. A good hunter waited until its prey was within striking distance.

When Hojo was close enough that Sora could smell the faint traces of light in his heart, the beast struck, breaking out of its restraints with ease, clawed hands latching onto Hojo's head. Hojo cried out in alarm, dropping his notebook and flailing his arms, trying to detach the creature attacking him. The guards withdrew their batons and moved to strike Sora, but they were knocked down as Sora leapt at them, Hojo forgotten. There was far more light in these guards than the twisted doctor and the Anti creature was determined to devour it all. Its claws ripped at one of the guards' chest. The guard screamed in anguish as blood splattered across the wall behind him. Sora raised one arm, seconds away from killing the man, when suddenly, a poorly-aimed fireball impacted on the wall next to the guard.

Zemus cast another strong fire spell at the monstrosity, hoping to quell it, but the fire collided harmlessly on Sora's backside. Glowing eyes turned on Zemus, its body hunched over, almost on all fours, ready to pounce. The mage backed away, fearful for his life. Just when the beast raised its claws to attack, there was a jolt of electricity deep in the base of its skull. It howled in pain, arching backwards as its claws tried to tear away whatever was causing the agony, but within seconds, the beast collapsed, eyes falling half closed as energy drained. A spark of light flickered over its body and the dark smoke cleared away as its skin returned to its natural tone, claws receding back into hands. Sora had reverted back to his human self.

"Thank goodness…" Zemus gasped, still shaking from the fear coursing through his veins.

Sora's head was spinning and he was just barely able to stay awake. He needed to escape, but his arms and legs felt like dead weights. And the last jolt from the chip in his neck left him with a horrible migraine. He hadn't been anticipating the shock treatment actually being enough to subdue his Anti form, but now he knew. Now he realised just how screwed his situation was. There was no escape.

Zemus dropped down beside Hojo, checking to see if the doctor was still alive. There were five deep gashes around the crown of his head, but he was still breathing. Next, Zemus checked on the injured guard while the other unharmed guard was busy on the radio, calling for back-up and medical support. Within minutes, the room was full of other Righteous Hearts personnel, one group working on restraining Sora to the table once again while the medical teams patched up the guard and Dr. Hojo.

"What happened…?" Dr. Hojo groaned as he came to. Then the memories returned and he was full of rage. "Master Zemus, that's the _second_ time you've lost control over the subject!"

"I-I'm sorry! I-"

"I don't want to hear excuses! I'm this close to putting you before a firing squad, you hear me? I will not accept failure!" Dr. Hojo winced when a nurse attempted to apply some ointment to his head wounds. "You're lucky that I still need you for the final phase of experiments, otherwise I would not hesitate in executing you myself!" With that, the doctor batted away the nurse's efforts and stood, stomping from the lab.

The last thing Sora heard before he passed out was the purple mage muttering to him, "You knew this would happen… didn't you?"

oOoOo

"We'll be injecting dark cells into your system bit by bit to see how your heart reacts," Dr. Hojo announced on another day of experiments. "I predict one of two outcomes. Either your body will adapt over time and you'll become a humanoid Heartless like Xehanort before you, or your body will decay as if poisoned and you'll die a slow painful death. Either way, this will provide extensive research date!" He could barely contain his glee.

"Don't do this!" Sora warned weakly. "You have no idea what you're messing with!" Dr. Hojo's lips curled into a sick smile.

"Precisely. That's the point of the experiment, dear Keyblade Master. To learn." He flipped the switch on his device.

Sora hissed in pain when he felt the dark material from the IV bag hanging next to him flood into his veins and into his heart. His nerves were on fire and although it was only a small dosage, he felt his heart sear with darkness clouding it. The pain faded after a time and he relaxed his tense muscles. The monitor next to his bed began beeping erratically and the machine next to it printed off a sheet of data recording the percentage of light and dark in his heart as well as other information he couldn't read from his vantage point. Dr. Hojo took the print-off and read it carefully.

"Interesting…" he murmured as he wandered from the room. Sora craned his neck to see where Hojo was going and if he'd be back soon. As soon as he felt it was safe, he began working on cutting the straps around his left wrist using the scalpel he stole from Lucrecia. The blade barely made a dent in the strap before Hojo returned.

"If this information is accurate," he began explaining as if Sora were his student. "Then I can safely administer 15 more doses of darkness into your system before you have a violent reaction. As in, turning into a Heartless shadow, which we're not ready to experiment with just yet. Clearly from the last time you bordered on turning Heartless." He smirked as left the room again. But before Sora could work on breaking out of his restraints again, two burly guards appeared and knocked him out cold so they could return him to his room with no resistance.

oOoOo

It had been two weeks since Sora's imprisonment had begun. At least, he could only assume it had been roughly two weeks. He had lost track of time days ago. Today, in Lab E, he was strapped to the operating table, all kinds of strange and foreign machinery set up next to him and hanging above him. There were more scientists in the room than he had ever seen before. Any idiot could tell that something special was going to happen today, but Sora was certain it wasn't the good kind of special.

"And now we have arrived at the most important experiment of all," Hojo announced to everyone present as he bustled into the room. "This can make or break all the research we've been doing for the past 6 years!" He raised both arms up as a maniacal glint stole into his eyes. He embodied the very meaning of the term 'mad scientist' at that very moment. He focused the deranged glint on Sora, giving a very toothy grin. "We need to study your heart, Keyblade Master. We'll finally be able to unravel the truths and mysteries surrounding your legendary weapon and the brief experience you had as a Heartless. We can finally unlock the secret behind converting a Heartless back into a human being! Imagine the impact this will have on the war! We could win!"

"No…" Sora croaked, turned his head slightly to the side. "It doesn't work like that…" For a moment, it looked as though Dr. Hojo were actually going to listen to what Sora had to say, but he quickly turned his back and headed for the small room attached to the lab. "You can't recreate what happened to me… It's impossible!"

"Science makes miracles possible," Hojo muttered as he arranged some equipment and tools on a small waist-high table on wheels.

"Not this one," Sora urged. He had been holding back for so long on this tidbit of truth, for fear of what Dr. Hojo would do with the information, but now he had no choice. His very soul was on the line. "The only reason I came back from being a Heartless was because I share a connection with a Princess of Heart. I'm the only one who has this connection."

"Nonsense," Hojo said, returning to the main lab. Zemus was already prepared at the head of the table.

"It's true! The Princess used the connection to restore my heart! You can't recreate something like that! I'm a unique case! You're wasting your time!" There must have been something in Sora's voice, perhaps the urgency or the fear that caused Hojo to still for a moment and truly consider what was being said. Was it possible that the last 6 years of research he had been doing was for nothing? His eye twitched. No, it was a ruse, a deception on the Keyblade Master's part. He was stalling for time, that had to be it.

"Stop filling my head with your drivel!" Hojo ordered. He finished setting up all the equipment, placing several tabs on Sora's forehead and across his freshly scarred chest. Those tabs would electronically transmit every bit of data they collected, everything from heart rate to brain wave activity to adrenaline levels. "Zemus, you may proceed."

"No!" Sora cried. He truly had no idea what they had planned but if it involved studying his heart up close and it really was part of the last series of experiments they planned to do, he could only assume it would conclude with either the death of his physical body or the death of his soul. He prayed that if it were the latter, then Roxas would emerge from the process and wreak havoc on his captors.

Zemus went through the motions of seeping into Sora's consciousness, stealing away what little control he had over his own actions. After taking all the necessary precautions, he nodded to Hojo to indicate that he was ready to begin.

"Summon your Keyblade," Zemus ordered. There was brief pause as Sora struggled valiantly to cling to whatever self-control he had but ultimately failed in his pursuit. He fingers flexed as he felt the familiar warmth pool in the palm of his hand, and in a pillar of white light, the Way to Dawn appeared in his grasp. Very carefully, the guards removed the restraint on Sora's weapon-wielding hand and backed away a safe distance, should the Keyblade Master suddenly lash out. There was a dramatic pause before Zemus issued his next command. "Plunge the Keyblade into your heart and unlock it."

For a moment, it looked as though Sora would not comply. Up until now, all the orders he had been given were not self-life-threatening, but the last request went against his natural instincts. The human brain would not submit. But then Zemus pressed in deeper into Sora's subconscious, stripping away his self-preservation. Without delay, his arm rose against his will and turned the Keyblade on his own chest. Internally, he screamed for dominance. His dead lover's instrument would be his undoing.

The arm holding the Keyblade sank downward and Way to Dawn plunged into Sora's chest, piercing his heart in a blinding flash of light. Despite the mind-control, he cried out in pain as the darkness seeped into his unlocked heart and began consuming him. The monitors around the room began beeping erratically at different pitches and frequencies.

"His dark readings are going off the chart!" one scientist shouted.

"Heart rate had dramatically increased," another scientist confirmed.

"We're losing brain activity."

"Ten seconds until his heart is completely consumed by the darkness."

"Extracting the heart." A red pulse emitted from the machine above Sora's bed, aimed directly at his heart. Sora's arm dropped beside him and the Keyblade landed on the floor next to the lab table in a loud clatter. Instead of vanishing like last time, Sora remained where he was. "Initiating dampening field." A gentle humming noise filled the room. And then, the red pulsing machine fired a brighter pulse at Sora. He let out a blood-curdling scream. The room filled with intense red light before dying down, revealing a crystallized heart floating about Sora's body. Perhaps most terrifying of all was that Sora remained conscious for the entire process, watching in horror as his own heart bobbed above him. But if it was there, then how was he still alive or not a Heartless?

"Report!" Hojo called.

"Dampening field is stable," the first scientist announced proudly. "The darkness will not touch this heart. The rest of his vitals look good. Brain activity is normal, if not accelerated. Darkness levels are nominal. Heart rate is stable." _Stable?_ Sora's thoughts raced. How could any of this be happening? How could he stay alive when his heart was floating outside his body? They did something to him, something about this dampening field was making it possible.

"Excellent work, everyone! We made history today! Guards, best restrain Sora lest he overcome Zemus' influence." The guards moved cautiously to put Sora's limp arm back in the binds, but he somehow doubted he would have had the strength to fight his captors at the present moment, with or without the mind-control. This was too unreal for him to comprehend. He had never known fear or panic like this before, unable to tear his eyes away from the red crystal heart of his.

And then, Sora squinted as another burst of light nearly blinded his retinas. But the people around him didn't seem to notice the last flash. They were too busy congratulating each other on a job well done. Sora chanced opening his eyes, and rather than focus on his heart, his eyes landed on a new figure standing in the room.

"Hey, Other. Looks like we got ourselves a situation." Sora blinked repeatedly, trying to figure out if he was hallucinating or not. "You're not hallucinating. I'm really here. Or… at least as much 'here' as I can get without having an actual body." There, standing beside Sora's beside, was the spiky-haired blonde Nobody that Sora hadn't really thought about in years. It was impossible for them to coexist at the same time, and yet here he was.

"R…Roxas…" he whispered.

"Shh…" Roxas looked around at the people around him. No one could see him in his current state. Aside from the fact that his body was mostly transparent, ghost-like, it would seem he only existed for Sora's eyes. "Don't say my name out loud. You don't want them to know I'm here."

"How do I know you're really here…?" Sora's panic grew ten fold. What if this was it? He had snapped, gone off the deep end, completely lost it. That final experiment had been the straw that broke his sanity's back and now he was hallucinating about his Nobody.

"Trust me, I'm here and I'm pissed." Roxas reached out to place a comforting hand on Sora's shoulder but his hand passed right through. "I'm gonna bust you out of here, I swear!"

"…How…?" Sora wanted to add 'You don't even have a body' but his strength was fading fast and his throat was incredibly dry.

"I'll figure something out. Please don't lose hope! Everything's going to be fine!"

"No…" Sora wanted to believe that he hadn't just gone insane, but it was proving difficult.

"It will! I promise! Sora, listen to me! I don't know what they did or how they did it, but I'm here because of that." Roxas pointed to the crystal heart. "They screwed up your light and dark balance and now they've screwed with the order of things. Whatever their machinery is doing to keep you alive and un-Heartless is what's keeping me here outside your heart. But now that I'm here, I can help you! So don't give up yet!"

"No…" The last of his strength vanished and Sora slipped into unconsciousness.

oOoOo

A/N: Sorry to cut things short here, but I got to about 11,000 words in this chapter before I realised that it was too goddamn long, so I decided to split it up into two separate chapters, for the sake of your sanity. The next portion of flashback is on its way. R&R in the meantime!


	8. Chapter 7B: Escaping the Memory

**Timeless**

Chapter 7B: Escaping the Memory

(_**Date unknown, 2012 – ATL**_)

The next time Sora awoke, it was an arduous process just to open his eyes. Everything around him was blurry and the sounds came in muffled. Breathing was a painful chore. And there was a bright red light floating just in front of his face that made him squint.

_Ah… right…_

His heart.

Floating above without a care in the world was his crystallized heart for all the world to see. Somehow, seeing it a second time didn't cause Sora to relapse into shock. He figured that the last strand of sanity he had been clinging to had finally snapped and now nothing would phase him in the least. Off to the side of the laboratory, Dr. Hojo and three other scientists were going over some notes, whispering with a heightened sense of excitement, yet Sora could only make out a few words, not enough to form a full sentence.

"…bond of hearts…" they said quietly. "…connection… light… protective… Princess… see the…"

"I think they finally figured out what made you special," said another voice closer to Sora. He craned his neck and saw the ethereal form of his Nobody hovering nearby. Roxas was glowering at the group of scientists. "They're picking up traces of pure light in your heart. The pure light that Kairi used to restore you."

"What will happen to her?" Sora croaked, his voice barely audible. "Now that they know? Will she be safe?"

"You and I both know that she could kick all their asses with her hands tied behind her back."

Sora snorted dispassionately. "…Didn't stop them from kicking _my_ ass."

"They caught you off-guard. They _used_ a little girl to get you."

"God, I'm so stupid…"

"Sora, don't start with that. We need that optimistic attitude of yours to come back for just a little while so I can figure this out. Look sharp. Here they come." True enough, Dr. Hojo and his assistants were approaching. Hojo seemed sour about something.

"Ah, Sora, you're awake!" he exclaimed. "Well, it seems there was some truth to your earlier ramblings about your heart. We can't recreate the process without a Princess of Heart. Plans are currently underway to acquire one. In the meantime, we'll be extracting samples of the pure light in your heart so we can study it and hopefully duplicate it. Once that's done, we'll replace your heart, safe and sound." Sora's eyes darted to his heart. Up until that moment, he had been hesitant to look at his chest, to see the damage that had been done. The spot where his Keyblade had pierced his chest was covered by a bloodied gauze that looked as though it were in desperate need of being changed. Sora felt like he was going to be sick.

"Will you let me go then?" he asked weakly, tearing his eyes away from his scarred chest. Hojo let out a bark of a laugh.

"And why would we do a silly thing like that? There are still lots of things we can learn about you and your weapon. Not to mention, we can still use you for other experiments like weapon-testing."

"Bastard…" Roxas hissed. He looked like he was itching to beat Hojo to a pulp, but his ethereal form wouldn't allow it. Hojo turned back to his assistants and directed them to begin the extraction process. A white beam of light shot out of a strange apparatus in the ceiling, pulling pieces of red crystal from Sora's heart, digging deep and slicing through it. Sora cried out, filled with a burning sensation across his body. He strained to reach out to Roxas.

"Make them stop!" he screamed. Roxas watched on helpless, trying to take Sora's hand.

"Just hang on, Sora!" he said. "I'm right here! Don't give up!" The pain was blinding, pushing Sora to the very limit of his sanity. Just when it was bordering on lethal, he passed out.

oOoOo

Sora bolted awake, sitting up quickly as a sharp scream emitted from his lips. He froze, looking around, completely disorientated. He was back in his dark cell. Although his body still tingled with the lingering pain of the darkness, his heart was nowhere to be found. Panic filled him.

"They put it back," said Roxas. He was standing in the corner watching over Sora. "Your heart is where it should be."

"What happened?" Sora whispered, pressing his hand over his chest. The gauze over his heart was still damp with blood.

"After you passed out, they took what they could from your heart and put it back in your body. Then they dumped you here. You've been unconscious for 14 hours."

"This can't be happening…" Sora pulled his knees up to his chest protectively. "This whole thing… It has to be a nightmare."

"C'mon, Sora, don't go crazy on me. You're gonna get through this."

"How do you know?" Sora's eyes were wild and bloodshot. "I've been trying to escape since I first got here! This place is a fortress! There's no way out!"

Roxas eyed him a moment before he approached the door, easily walking through the bars and peering down the corridor. He seemed to get a certain distance away before he winced and retreated back into the cell. "They left you some food. I suggest you eat it to keep your strength up." Sora eyed the tray that had been left by the door.

"And if I don't eat?" he muttered. Somehow, death was preferable to this nightmare. Roxas shot him a stern look.

"Don't be selfish. The universe still needs you."

"I'm sick of being the one the universe needs!" Sora shouted suddenly. "The universe can go fuck itself!"

"You don't mean that. Kairi still needs you. You really think she should just fuck off and die?" Sora sputtered and didn't answer right away.

"But you said it yourself. She can fend for herself."

"But that doesn't mean she doesn't care if you live or die. She loves you, man! Get it together! For her sake! For Riku's memory! For yourself!" Roxas pointed at the tray firmly. "Eat." Sora glared at Roxas for a long time. Finally, after 5 minutes, he dragged himself over to the tray and began picking at the food. Moderately satisfied with that, Roxas turned to the bar doors once more. He stepped outside the cell and tried advancing further down the hall.

Sora panicked. "Where are you going?" he asked desperately.

"I'm trying to figure out where we are." Roxas made it about ten feet further away than last time before he stopped, grimacing about something and stepping backwards. "They're coming." Hojo and his entourage rounded a corner, coming up to Sora's cell, completely ignoring Roxas.

"Ah, the prodigal son is awake!" Hojo said. "How are we today?"

"Ask him where we are," Roxas instructed. Sora's eyes darted back and forth between Roxas and Hojo.

"Where… are we?" he asked slowly. Hojo seemed surprised by the question.

"Why would I tell you that?" he asked.

"Who am I ever going to tell?" Sora countered.

"Good answer," Roxas chimed in. Hojo seemed to be considering the request. He snapped his fingers and indicated to one of the guards to apprehend Sora. At first, Sora resisted, backing away, but his strength was still diminished, and he was quickly subdued. The guard pulled him to his feet and shoved him towards the door.

"You want to know where we are right now?" Hojo asked. "I think you of all people will find this poetic, in a way." He began marching down the corridor with the guards and the cuffed Sora close behind. The path they walked along was entirely new to Sora, at the opposite end of the building from the labs, but after a quiet few minutes of walking, there were certain elements that were starting to look familiar.

They ascended a staircase that led to a new set of damp hallways with sections of it flooded with ankle-deep water. Sora was glancing around, trying to figure out where he recognized these hallways from. Roxas was eyeing the décor as well, memorizing it for future reference. They came to an ornate gate separating a section of hallway from the one they were in, so Hojo pressed a button on the wall next to it. The gate slid into the floor. Far at the end of the corridor, there appeared to be daylight streaming in from an open door. Hope swirled in Sora's damaged heart. Beyond that exit was possible freedom.

They reached the end of the corridor, and instead of a doorway, it was merely a collapsed opening that led to the outdoors. It was hazy with overcast in the sky, the sun blocked by grey clouds. It looked like the facility they were in was located inside a mountain and part of the facility had crumbled away down the mountainside. Flooded water trickled out the opening and down the side of the debris.

"Behold," Hojo said, gesturing his whole arm towards the entrance. "Your ruined prison." At first, Sora didn't move. He suspected a trap. However, Roxas did not hesitate to jump over the debris and rocks out the opening. He looked around and then up.

"Sora…" he murmured. "You have to see this…" Sora glanced cautiously at his captors. They were waiting for him to move. Finally, he took a step towards the opening. One step after another, his feet took him out to the remains of the hallway, nothing more than a ledge at this point. Beyond the ruined ledge, the water from the inside filtered out down a steep cliff and far beyond the human vision. There didn't appear to be any ground anywhere beyond the facility. Looking up, Sora saw castle spires coming from the roof of the labs. Or more accurately, the facilities were merely basement corridors and rooms attached to the base of a decaying castle.

Squinting, Sora spotted a flag waving at the top of one of the remaining spires. His eyes widened in horror. It was Radiant Garden's flag. The ruined castle was the remains of Castle Luminous. The basement corridors were the waterways beneath Hollow Bastion, the very same labs that Xehanort had used when he was experimenting with hearts. They were on Radiant Garden the whole time.

"W-we're…" he stuttered. "We're on Radiant Garden?"

"Precisely," Hojo answered, smiling at the shock on Sora's face. "The Righteous Hearts started here and we never left, even after the Heartless ravaged this world a second time. We stayed safe in the secret laboratories beneath the waterways of Castle Luminous." Sora was finding it difficult to breathe. This whole time, the Righteous Hearts were hiding in plain sight and no one ever thought to check there. And no one ever would, since it was widely believed that the Heartless had destroyed this world. "What's the matter, Keyblade Master? Surprised to see how resilient we are?" After a period of silence, Hojo snapped his fingers and indicated to the guards to take Sora back to his cell.

As they marched back down into the humid basement, Roxas murmured, "This is a good thing. Now I know what to tell the others when I see them."

"See them?" Sora groaned. The guards glanced at him when he spoke but said nothing, unable to see the Nobody walking beside them. Roxas nodded.

"I'm going to disappear for a bit, but don't lose hope! I'll be back, I promise!" His form began fading. Sora let out a shout.

"No, wait, don't go!" He reached out to an empty spot in front of him. It was too late. Roxas was gone. Sora stared at the spot where he was once standing, grief filling him. It was only when one of the guards roughly shoved him three times that he resumed trudging back to his prison cell.

(_**Jan. 15, 2012 - ATL**_)

It had been three days since Sora had last seen Roxas. During those three days, he didn't eat, his motivation for living entirely depleted. Once a day, he was taken from his cell and the scientists perform tests on him with new weapons and chemicals they were working on. Each night, he came back to his cell beaten and bruised. The healing spells of Lucrecia's were becoming less and less effective. One of these days, they were going to kill him and not be able to revive him. He welcomed that day.

Sora was curled up on his musty bare mattress, shaking. For the last few hours, he had been holding back tears. He had made a promise to Kairi not to cry anymore and he certainly wasn't going to break his promise in his dying days. He stirred when he felt a warm breeze pass over his cheek.

"I'm back," said a voice in his ear. He painfully turned his head to see Roxas hovering over him, his ghostly hand pressed against the brunet's cheek. "I told you I'd be back." Sora's bottom lip trembled, emotions growing unstable.

"You were gone for so long…" he cried meekly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Where were you?"

"I was travelling. It took a long time because it's really difficult to maintain this form without being near you."

"Don't leave me again…" Sora whispered, uninterested in what Roxas meant by 'travelling' and 'maintaining his form'.

"I won't. I'll be by your side until the end. I promise." Roxas smiled serenely. "The end is coming soon." Before Sora could respond, the bar doors made a clattering noise as they were wrenched open. Three guards walked in to take Sora away for more experiments. Roxas followed along silently.

"Do something!" Sora called as he was shoved through the doorway of Lab E.

"I already have," Roxas replied. The guards strapped Sora to the tables and left the room. All became silent as they waited for the scientists to arrive. Roxas looked anxious, pacing the room and occasionally checking the clock. Sora watched him.

"What did you do?" he asked. Roxas stopped pacing. The door opened and Hojo walked into the room with a clipboard ready.

"Today's experiment will likely be the last one you'll have to endure," he explained, getting straight to the point. "We've accumulated as much information as we possibly can from you and your heart. There isn't much left to discover. So we've decided to use you in the testing of our anti-dark weapons. Zemus will instruct you to change into your Anti Form and then we'll use our anti-dark rifle on you. If all goes according to plan, the darkness in your heart will be eradicated and you'll be released from this torment."

"Released?" Sora asked, feeling just the tiniest bit of hope.

"Killed." The hope vanished and he paled considerably.

"Roxas, do something _now_!" he cried, struggling against his restraints. He thought he was ready for death, but he wasn't. Hojo seemed surprised by the outburst and looked around the room.

"The subject appears to have lost his mind…" he murmured to himself as he left the lab to prep the equipment.

"I told you, I already have," Roxas answered. His form was growing weaker and he appeared to be shrugging off pain. Sora stopped struggling, suddenly concerned for his Nobody.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked quietly. "What did you do?"

Roxas ignored the question. "You saved me from the darkness and oblivion once. Let me do the same for you, Sora. Help is on the way." He was slowly disappearing.

"Roxas, wait! _What did you do? _What's happening to you? Don't leave me!"

"I'll never leave you. I'll always be in your heart." Roxas smiled faintly, placing his hand on Sora's shoulder. His form faded until there was nothing in its place, leaving Sora alone and cold. He whimpered in pain and grief, clenching his eyes shut. The calming presence that was once his Nobody was now gone, a lingering dull ache in its place. Suddenly, the reality of his situation hit him like a ton of bricks. The atrocities committed on him, the torture inflicted, the mutilation of his heart, it all became too much to handle at once. His breathing became laboured and his headache grew unbearable. Struggling uselessly against his restraints, he let out a strangled scream that echoed off the walls.

When the oxygen in his lungs ran out, he gasped for breath and all became silent. That was when he heard sounds outside the room, doors slamming and crashes as things hit the floor. Then he heard voices, angry and alarmed ones, one side demanding cooperation while the other resisted. Shots were fired, accompanied by loud bangs of magic-usage until the whole building was shaking as a battle ensued just outside the doors of his prison.

And all at once, the sound stopped and silence reigned once more.

Sora's heartbeat was racing as he strained to listen for any kind of noise, his brain fumbling with an explanation to the sounds he heard. With his mind reeling in panic and terror, he jumped when the doors open and a group of darkly-dressed figures swept in, soldiers of war, taking positions around the room, securing it. Leading up the rear was a woman wearing red-accented armour and a dark helmet.

"Room is secure, Red," one soldier said, tapping her shoulder. The woman removed her helmet, shaking out her short auburn locks and turning her azure eyes on Sora. He gaped, taking a long moment to register who she was.

"K…Kairi?" he whispered, his voice hoarse from screaming and thirst. The woman in question nodded. Sora thought he'd never see her again, falling into a state of shock and disbelief. Kairi stepped forward without a word, summoning her dagger-sized Keyblade, the Broken Bond, and cut Sora loose from his restraints. When he tried to sit up, she pushed him back down and murmured a quick healing spell. Her hands lingered over his scarred and bloody chest, hovering over his heart. Her eyes widened a moment before understanding flooded them.

"So if _was_ Roxas after all," she whispered more to herself. Her eyes returned to Sora's face, stony and hard. "He came to me, told me you were in danger and where I could find you." There was a flash of softness to her features, a hint of repressed weakness and misery, but she quickly hid it. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, leaning forward so only he could hear her. "I should have found you sooner. I just couldn't get the connection between our hearts to help guide me. I…" She trailed off, thinking it best to save her apologies for later when Sora was relocated to a hospital. "Let's get you home." She smiled dully, as if her facial muscles weren't used to smiling at all or she was too exhausted to attempt it.

The last thing Sora remembered before losing consciousness was being lifted off the laboratory table by three soldiers. The next time he awoke, it was in a flurry of panic. He bolted upright, screaming as the remnants of a nightmare ebbed away. Magic flared as light burned his fingertips, the weight of the Keyblade appearing in his hands in a flash of luminosity, readying himself for a fight and startling the nearby healers in the room. It was then that he realised he wasn't still in the hands of the Righteous Hearts. He was lying in a comfortable hospital bed, hooked up to IVs and a heart monitor, which was beating erratically at the moment. He remained tense and suspicious, his heart still racing and the memories of his suffering still fresh in his mind, making it impossible for him to relax, even after a kind nurse tried to reassure him that he was safe.

Sora looked down at his torso. There were numerous amounts of bandaging around his chest, especially over where his heart was. Almost by instinct, he slowly placed his hand over the spot, feeling for a heartbeat, as if he were unsure if his heart were still there. But sure enough, he felt the gentle thumping of a heart inside his chest.

"Sora?" The voice alarmed him and he turned his Keyblade on the newcomer in the room but stopped when he saw her face. Kairi gazed back at him, unfazed by the tip of Oblivion pointing at her throat. "You're awake."

"Am I?" he replied quickly. "I don't know anymore. I had so many dreams… So many…" His grip on his weapon increased as beads of sweat trickled down the back of his neck. "How do I know this isn't just another nightmare?" Kairi kept her gaze level and strong. She gently gripped the tip of Sora's Keyblade and steered it away from her body.

"You'll just have to take my word for it," she whispered, stepping closer. "You're not dreaming. You're safe now." Sora's eyes flickered around the room to the other healers and back to Kairi. His breathing slowly returned to normal and his heart rate decreased.

"Where am I?" he asked quietly, his arm dropping a few inches.

"Disney Castle hospital."

Although he was still tense, he allowed himself to dismiss the Keyblade in his hands. "How long was I out?"

"Three days."

The next question, Sora hesitated to ask but he needed to know anyway. "How… long was I… How long ago was I taken?" Kairi frowned sadly.

"Three weeks." Sora felt his blood go cold. "You were taken on the 23rd of December. It's the 18th of January today." He was held captive for three weeks. Three weeks of torture and brutal experimentation. He felt like he was going to be sick. "Sora, I'm so sorry." Kairi kneeled next to his bed, taking his free hand. "We searched for days after you were reported missing! We didn't know where to begin looking for you! We thought the enemy took you, so we kept sending scouts out to enemy encampments, but they found nothing. We had no idea that you were taken by human civilians right under our noses! For the first couple of weeks, I could feel the connection between our hearts wavering and when it went out, I feared the worst! I thought you…" She choked back a sob, vowing to stay strong and not break down crying. "I thought you were dead. I couldn't feel your heart anymore." Sora appeared to be in a stupor, still trying to come to grips with everything Kairi was telling him.

"My heart…" And then, his voice took a dark undertone, quiet and yet powerful, full of hate. "They removed my heart…" Kairi's eyes widened in fear, her expression asking the obvious question of 'How?' "They had some kind of shield around me to prevent me from turning into a Heartless. The only reason I didn't go insane was because Roxas appeared." Then he felt panic rise in his chest again. "Where is he? Where's Roxas!"

"I don't know," Kairi said, trying to calm her friend. "I think he used the connection between us to contact me, but you were alone when we found you. I think…" She placed her hand over Sora's heart again to confirm her theory. "I think he's gone…" She went solemn and quiet. Sora blinked, unable to comprehend what she was talking about.

"What do you mean 'gone'? How can he not be there?" He searched deep within himself, searching for the Nobody who should have been in the centre of his heart, but all he could sense was a missing ache. "No…" Roxas really was gone.

"I think he used the last of his strength to reach me. Whatever the Righteous Hearts did to you, it messed with the balance of light and dark in your heart. It messed with his existence. I'm sorry…" Kairi closed her eyes, giving Sora a moment to come to terms with the loss. To someone on the outside, they couldn't possibly understand the deep connection that Kairi and Sora shared with their Nobodies. Their Nobodies weren't just people who weren't meant to exist, they were part of Sora and Kairi. To lose them was to lose a part of their soul, their very essence, or like losing a loved one or a child.

Sora's eyes burned with unshed tears. One by one, he was losing everything that mattered to him, and for what? Because a few overzealous mad scientists wanted to conduct unethical experiments in the name of science and saving the universe from an unstoppable threat. They should have been on the same side but they weren't somehow.

"Just tell me you got the fuckers who did this to me," he hissed, his sorrow long forgotten, overshadowed by inconsolable rage. "Tell me you made them pay. Tell me they got what they _fucking deserved_!" Kairi jumped at his harsh words.

"We got them. Those who weren't killed in the fight when we broke in were rounded up and put in prison. They're being sentenced to life imprisonment."

"No, that's not good enough. I want to see them burn." His eyes flickered with the flames of hatred. "I want them erased from existence, you understand? Execute them!"

"Sora, you're not well, you don't know what you're saying." Kairi had never heard such ruthless words leave his lips before. It almost frightened her how cold he was becoming in just the few short minutes since he had regained consciousness.

"I know exactly what I'm saying!" he roared, wrenching his hands out of Kairi's. "Three weeks! They had me for _three fucking weeks_! Do you have _any_ idea what it feels like to be cut up and burned and forced into a hellish anti-form? Why the hell should I let them live after all the shit they put me through?"

"Because that's not you, Sora!" Kairi shouted back, standing up to her full height. "You're not a bad person! Yes, what they did was horrible! I can't imagine what you must be going through, but listen to yourself! Listen to what you're saying! The 'you' I know would never call for another living creature's execution unless you had absolutely no other choice, and even then, you'd still be reluctant and remorseful!"

"_I don't care what I would have done before!_" Sora jumped out of his bed, ignoring the scared protests of the nurses around him and the IV tubes and cabling pulling at his arms. "They tortured me, Kairi! They cut out my heart and made me watch as they fucked around with it! They killed Roxas!"

"And they destroyed your light." Kairi calmly stood her ground and placed her hands on Sora's shoulders. "I know. But you're slipping into darkness – I can see it in your eyes. We're going to work through this, Sora. I saved you from the darkness once before, and I'll do it again, even if I have to shed every ounce of light in my heart to do it." Sora was breathing heavily, looking at the redhead with a mix of anger and surprise.

Before he knew it, those unshed tears he was refusing to acknowledge were sliding down his face at an alarming rate and his throat was choking up with emotions. Kairi didn't hesitate to embrace him, just like she had when they had learned about Riku's death, just like when Sora had nearly got himself killed in the Land of Dragons, and just like all the times when he had been informed of yet another friend dying in the line of duty. He practically collapsed in her arms, his voice shaking with the howl of a wounded animal, the reality of his detainment crashing down all around him. And the tears just wouldn't stop.

"It's going to be okay," Kairi whispered repeatedly like a mantra in his ear. Sora wanted to believe her. He really did. But he just couldn't. It would never be okay. Not now. Not ever again.

(_**March 6, 2012 – ATL**_)

Footsteps echoed across the barren cold hallway, the sound both deathly quiet and hauntingly loud. It was all Kairi could focus on, her own footsteps as she drew nearer and nearer to the room at the end of the hallway amidst the howls and screams of insanity coming from other rooms, behind shut doors. The florescent lights that lit this dingy corridor were flickering in and out of existence but the funds simply didn't exist to replace the bulb. Once it goes out, it will stay out forever. Moodily, Kairi saw it no differently than a life. You couldn't replace a person's life once it was gone.

Reaching the end of the hall, she hesitantly put her hand on the knob, pausing to feel the smooth cool surface, allowing a moment to compose herself. Visiting this room never got any easier. If anything, every time she arrived, she would dread it more and more. It was becoming insufferable. However, she would do anything for her friends, even if all she could do meant very little in the long run.

Twisting the knob, she felt it click and release. The door swung open slowly, creaking like a tired old wheel begging for oil, and she stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.

"Not the darkness…" a voice whispered. Somewhere in the midst of a bundle of sheets and blankets, cowering in the corner of the single bed in the center of the room, was Sora, shivering and murmuring to himself. "No, not again… Don't do this…"

"Sora?" Kairi said quietly, hoping to draw him out of whatever daytime terror he was experiencing. "Sora, it's me."

"Shut the door, you're letting the light out!" he snapped, hugging himself close.

"The door is shut," Kairi calmly replied, as though it were routine. "The darkness won't get inside."

"It's too late, it's already inside," Sora hissed. "It's inside me. I can't get it out! It won't come out! I'm stained, I'm darkness! They tainted me! Oh god, I'm tainted!" He began scratching at his own arms. "It won't wash off, never come off, the stink, the dark, it's inside me!" Kairi latched onto his arms to stop him from ripping his own skin.

"It's not," she whispered. "You're pure, Sora. Why can't you see that?"

"They made me a monster!" he cried weakly, fighting for control over his arms. "Look at me!"

"I am looking!" Kairi shouted, quickly losing patience. It had been nearly three months since he had been rescued from the clutches of the Righteous Hearts, but the poignant memories and the terrible events would never leave him, forever scarring him both mentally as well as physically. Nothing she said or did for him would bring him back to reality. She had never felt more useless in her entire life, unable to help Sora through this traumatic period in his life.

When it had become apparent after a month that he wasn't recovering psychologically, they had him moved to private quarters in a special wing of the Disney hospital, a wing set up after they had begun recovering people who were being controlled by Maleficent. It was the wing, in Kairi's opinion, for the most hopeless of hopeless cases. Only those who suffered brain damage from the Eximo spell were put here. The fact that they chose to put Sora here was a major insult and only proved that they had given up on him. But Kairi would not give up.

Never.

"Those fuckers..." Sora growled lowly, hunching over. "What did they do to me...? I can't break free! The darkness won't leave me!"

"Why can't you see?" Kairi whispered, holding his hands tightly. "Tell me what I should do! I want to make you better!"

"You can't!" Sora gave up on trying to free his arms, slumping over slightly. "It's too late... You shouldn't be here... You're a Princess. I'm darkness. I can't forget what they did to me... My heart... It burns! They're killing me!" His eyes were wild, reliving another horrible memory that burned his mind. "Stop it! You don't know what you're doing!"

"No, no, no!" Kairi cried, placing her hands around the back of Sora's neck. "Don't lose yourself in the memory! Sora, please focus on me!"

"I can't forget! I can't forget! It burns!" He began shaking, rocking back and forth as the memory consumed his consciousness. It was agonizing to watch and Kairi was sure she would start breaking down if she had to witness another moment of her only childhood friend slipping deeper and deeper into madness.

There was only one solution left, something she had been holding back from using because of her morals and her point of view concerning a person's free will. But at this point, she was willing to do anything to save Sora from his own inner demons. She wrapped her arms around his head, hugging him close.

"Listen to me," she whispered in his ear. "I can make you better. I can make all the bad stuff disappear. Would you like that?"

"Nothing disappears, not darkness, not despair, nothing…"

Kairi felt the corners of her eyes prickle with tears but she quickly blinked them back, refusing to break down. She had toughened up years ago, and she certainly wasn't going to allow herself a moment of weakness now. "But I can! I can make it all go away. Only if you let me."

Sora went very quiet, still shivering in her arms. "…How?"

"Just close your eyes. I'll make you forget… It'll just be a bad nightmare." She pursed her lips, still concerned that she wasn't doing the right thing, but the war was getting worse and worse everyday. Without their key warrior at the front of the lines to protect the refugees, they were lost. She wasn't just doing this to get her best friend back, she was doing this so the universe stood a shred of a chance. "I can break the memory chains from the last four months. Naminé showed me how. Do you want to forget?"

He took a lot longer this time to answer. "Yes…"

"Just relax…" In a motherly sort of way, she smoothed out his unruly spiked hair and kissed his forehead, gently placing her hands on either side of his head. Her hands began to glow.

"Close your eyes. I'll make it all better…" That nagging twinge of guilt wouldn't go away. She was manipulating him, doing the very thing she swore she wouldn't do when she had learned how to control her light and perform the same magic Naminé once knew.

As she worked her magic, tearing apart Sora's chains of memories from the past few months, Sora winced in pain. "It hurts..." he whimpered.

"Ssh, hush now. It's almost over…"

Sora closed his eyes, desperately craving the solace he needed. At once, he fell into a deep sleep, his head cushioned against Kairi's shoulder. She continued to smooth out his hair, taking deep breaths to calm her shamed soul. This is for the best, she would tell herself. Sora needs to forget everything to get better. It's the only way.

Sometime later, he stirred, awakening from his slumber, his head lying in Kairi's lap where she hadn't moved a muscle since she had sat down on his bed.

"Kairi?" he mumbled, his mouth dry. "Where am I? What time is it?" Relief washed into her features but was quickly replaced with a neutral mask.

"It's 7:34PM. You missed dinner."

"Did I? Shit." He sat up but quickly thought better of it when a headache hit him hard. "Oh man, my head's killing me. Am I hung-over?" Kairi managed a weak smile.

"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked cautiously. Sora paused, thinking hard about her question.

"We were at the Christmas party and…" he trailed off, a dark look crossing his face. "I got jumped. But the rest is pretty hazy…" The dark look passed and he went back to looking thoughtful. "I think I was in a lab somewhere, but I can't be sure. Seemed like a dream…" Then his eyes lit up. "Roxas was there! I remember that!" Kairi looked panicked for a moment.

"Roxas?"

"Yeah, but…" Sora paused, frowning slightly. "He's… not there anymore." He pressed his palm to the center of his chest, feeling for the warmth of his heart. "Something happened." Looking to Kairi for help, he shrugged.

"You were kidnapped by the Righteous Hearts," she said bluntly, figuring that at this point, the truth wouldn't hurt so much and his mind wasn't as delicate as it was just a few hours ago. He could handle the news. There was no danger of him ever recovering his memories of the worst three weeks of his life, unless she willed it, and she knew she never would. "We rescued you after Roxas came to me in a dream. But he was separated from you for too long without a real body. I think…he's gone for good." Shock spread across Sora's body, causing him to inhale sharply.

"Oh no…" He closed his eyes, allowing a moment of grief to take him before his tough exterior returned. "And the Righteous Hearts?"

"They were dealt with."

"How? Who was behind them?"

"You don't need to worry about that. They were dealt with. It's done and over. Just get some rest. I'll bring you some dinner." She got up to leave, moving quickly for the creaky door, wanting nothing more than to outrun her guilt. A part of her couldn't actually believe it worked. He couldn't remember being tortured, mutilated, or experimented on. It was for the best. But she felt disgusted with herself. She abused a power she had over him. She reshaped him into something she could use. Sometimes the ends really don't justify the means at all.

"Hey, wait, Kairi," Sora called, gently grabbing her by the wrist. Kairi froze, dread filling her. "Thanks. For being there when I woke up." He released her arm and sat back down on the bed.

"Yeah…" she replied, clenching her fist as she did. "Yeah, don't worry about it. That's what friends are for." With that, she fled the room. It was possible she felt even worse leaving than she had when going in.

(**Sept. 25****th****, 2007 – CTL**)

Sky rapidly sat upright, gasping for breath, hands rushing to his head to block out the intense pain and the flood of memories exploding in his brain. Kairi was crying out in distress, her hands retracting so quickly from Sky's presence that it looked as though his aura had burned her. Alarmed by their reactions, Sora and Riku rushed to their friends' aid.

"What's wrong?" Sora cried, putting his hands on Sky's shoulder in an attempt to quell the older man's pain. Riku was holding Kairi close, rubbing her back in a comforting manner. "What happened?"

"God! Oh god! It burns!" Kairi whimpered, burying her face in Riku's chest. "It burns!"

"Burning…" Sky whispered, his breath still coming in sharply. "My heart's burning…"

"What did you see?" Sora yelled, moving his hands from Sky's shoulders to his face. "Please tell me what's wrong!" He had never been more terrified in his life than right at this moment. His two friends were reeling in shock from whatever they had just witnessed and there wasn't a thing he could do to help.

However, after a minute of Kairi and Sky shaking and cringing in pain, a calming wave washed over them and the pain faded as their minds had time to adjust to the new and disturbing memories. Kairi stopped shaking as she pulled away from Riku but her face was still white as a sheet and her eyes looked haunted. Sky brushed Sora's hands off him as he stood up and began pacing around the backyard, trying to come to grips with this new revelation in his life. It was overwhelming and just too difficult at that very moment to handle.

"Are you okay?" Riku whispered to Kairi, still rubbing her arms in a soothing way. She didn't respond for a long time, looking past Riku as if she were watching something that wasn't there. But after a few blinks, her eyes locked with Riku's as she zoned back into reality.

"It was me…" she mumbled, tears already forming in her eyes. "I was the one who erased his memories…"

"What?" Riku was taken aback, unsure he fully understood what she was talking about.

"That blank spot in his memories, the ones from when he was kidnapped. I'm the one who erased them. I forced him to forget!" When she blinked, two tears trailed down her cheeks. "Why would I do that…? How could I do that to him?" She inhaled shakily. "And now I just made him remember everything, all the horror and the experiments! Oh my god… I made him remember!"

"Kairi, no…" She looked up at Sky, who had stopped pacing and was standing behind Riku. His eyes looked like a stormy hurricane instead of the clear blue they normally were, projecting such intensity that almost made Kairi flinch away. "You did the right thing."

"How can you say that? All those terrible memories..." She began shaking again.

He sat down beside her and took her hands. "I'm not as frail as I was before. I couldn't handle it then but…" He gave her hands a gentle squeeze as the storm in his eyes cleared up. "I'm stronger now. I'll be okay. I needed those memories to help my people. Now I can."

"What did you see?" Sora asked desperately, not enjoying being left in the dark.

"Everything," Sky replied darkly, closing his eyes. "I remember every moment clearly now, every experiment they ran, all the tests they did on my heart, the moments when they forced me to turn Anti, everything right up until my Kairi rescued me and broke the chains of memory tied to my kidnapping."

"The Kairi from your timeline manipulated you!" Kairi cried. "How is that any better than what the Righteous Hearts did to you?"

"We all did a lot of terrible things, things we're not proud of. It was necessary." He put a finger over Kairi's lips before she could interrupt with self-loathing. "She did it to save me. I don't blame her for what she did. I needed to forget that time in my life to recover properly. I wouldn't be here right now if she didn't do that. So don't wallow in guilt about something you didn't do, Princess."

It was quiet for a long time before Kairi nodded. There was a wisp of an eternally apologetic look in her eyes that Sky doubted would ever go away completely, but he knew how strong Kairi was capable of being. Sky smiled. She'd be fine.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Riku asked.

"Yes," Sky answered, looking up. "The Righteous Hearts are hiding beneath the waterways of Castle Luminous."

"Are you serious?" Sora exclaimed.

"There's no time to waste. I gotta go tell Leon the news." Sky straightened up. "It was good to see all of you again." Kairi stood up as well and embraced Sky.

"I'll miss you," she whispered, hugging him tightly.

"You're leaving already?" Sora moaned, folding his arms. "But you just got here."

"Stop being a whiney brat," Sky snapped, releasing Kairi and grabbing Sora in a headlock. "Or I'll kick your ass again."

"That first time doesn't count!" Sora growled, escaping the headlock and grinning. "See you later, Sky. Don't be a stranger!"

"Yeah, try visiting when you don't have bad news," Riku chimed in with a smirk. "Come back when you nab your new boyfriend!"

"New boyfriend?" Sora asked quizzically.

"I'll tell you later."

Sky rolled his eyes, pretending he didn't hear that last part. He waved as he opened a Door to take him back to Radiant Garden. This was by far the most important lead they had gotten. He'd be damned if he let this one go.

oOoOo


	9. Chapter 8: Something to Fight For

**Timeless**

Chapter 8: Something to Fight For

(**Sept. 25, 2007, 40 minutes to midnight – CTL**)

A bright rectangular doorway appeared in the middle of the security room of Castle Luminous. Sky stepped out, looking quite excited with his latest lead. Cid and Leon looked up from their work upon his arrival.

"You guys!" Sky exclaimed. "I got them back! My memories! I know where the Righteous Hearts are hiding!"

"Really?" Leon sat up, very interested in this new information. "What changed? Where'd you go?"

"I went back to Destiny Island. Kairi unlocked the memories of my kidnapping and I found out where they took me. They're _underneath_ this castle! Right here!"

"What?" Now Cid was on his feet, balling his fists and accidentally knocking over his chair. "Those assholes are in the _castle_? How the hell is that possible?"

"There's a network of laboratories beneath the waterways that we didn't know about. I can only assume the Hearts found them before we fully restored the castle."

"We don't have cameras in those sections!" Cid growled. He was taking the news as a personal attack on his abilities to perform his duties the secondary head of security. "I'll send a team down there and search every corner of the place until the Hearts are found! Who are we looking for?"

"Dr. Hojo is their leader."

"Hojo?" Cid paused. "He was one of the top scientists from Shinra."

"Ah HA! So there _was _a connection! See, Leon?" Sky smirked proudly at the older brunet. Leon merely rolled his eyes. "Get Sazh to gather up his security team. I'll meet up with them in a minute." Sky checked his watch. "We've got less than an hour until midnight and we still don't know how the Hearts will unleash their attack." Before Sky could act, a loud, high-pitched noise filled the room. The three men covered their ears in pain, trying to shout words over the noise but finding it difficult to hear one another. And then, the sound abruptly stopped. All the monitors in the room went out.

"Shit!" Cid cursed as he tried restarting the systems. Nothing would respond. The lights in the room and the hallways began flickering. "What the hell's going on? We still got an hour!" The monitors suddenly came back to life, but they all displayed the same thing: a darkly-lit room with a white banner hanging across the top with the words 'Righteous Hearts' written on it. "Uh… guys?" Sky and Leon rushed over to the screens, watching carefully.

After a moment, two figures walked on screen, their faces obscured by balaclava masks. One of them was holding a pulse rifle and the other was holding a sheet of paper. Sky could only assume that the one with the sheet was Dr. Hojo himself, leader of the Righteous Hearts movement.

"Attention, citizens of Radiant Garden-" Hojo said.

"Wait, _citizens_?" Sky yelled. "Is this broadcasting _live_ to everyone in Radiant Garden?" As he said that, his phone began ringing in his pocket. Answering it, he said, "What?"

"Sky, are you getting this broadcast?" asked Tifa on the other end of the line. "All the TVs in my bar suddenly switched to some video of the Righteous Hearts!" Before Sky could answer, his phone beeped, indicating he was getting another call.

"Hang on, Tifa," he said, pressing the hold button and switching to the other call. "Yes?"

"Sky, this is Aeris," said Aeris. "We've got trouble! The monitors in all my patients' rooms are displaying footage of the Righteous Hearts! I can't get them to turn off!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Sky cursed, dropping the arm that was holding his phone. "Cid, Leon, this thing is broadcasting to everyone in the whole city!"

"I'm already working on shutting it down!" Cid called, typing in commands to his terminal in the hopes of regaining control.

"-have asked the Restoration Committee to stand down," Hojo continued, completely unaware of the distress he was causing Sky. "But thus far, they have refused to acknowledge us, even going as far as putting their people in danger. They hold their own interests above that of the population. We have been more than reasonable in the allotted time we gave them, but their silence will be the downfall of everyone in Radiant Garden. They have half an hour to comply with our demands before we unleash our next attack, and I promise it will not be a merciful one."

"Nothing's working!" Cid growled. "They've locked the whole system!" A Door appeared next to Sky, and Tifa and Yuffie stepped through. A moment later, Aeris emerged from a separate Door.

"What do we do?" Yuffie cried. "The people will be panicked about this!"

"If they will not listen to us, then perhaps they will listen to their own people," Hojo said from the monitors. "I urge the citizens of Radiant Garden to rise up against their tyrants and take up arms. Show them that you are the life of this city, not them! Take down this corrupt government while you still have time! We will help you overthrow these tyrants! The Righteous Hearts will lead Radiant Garden into a new golden age!" The video cut off and the monitors resumed their regular duties of displaying security feeds across the city.

Sky and the others could only stare in shock at what they had just witnessed.

"What are we doing just standing here?" Sky suddenly demanded. "We know where they are! Let's get them!"

"Sazh's team has mobilized in the waterways and are awaiting orders," Cid called.

"Send them ahead and tell them to start searching. I'll be down in a minute." Just then, all the phones in the room began ringing uncontrollably. "Don't answer those. We neutralize the threat first and then console the people." Leon and Aeris looked like they wanted to argue, but Aeris stopped when her attention was drawn to the monitors.

"What's that?" she gasped, pointing at the screens. An eerie green plume was coming from all the sewer grates and vents attached to the base of the castle. It moved quickly across the city, flooding the streets and filling the air with a green hue. People walking the streets paused to see what it was and then quickly covered their mouths and noses. "Oh my god, they're poisoning the people!"

"I don't think so…" Leon murmured.

The people caught outside in the green smoke didn't collapse or show any signs of pain. They simply stood there, looking thoroughly confused. And then several of them began shouting at one another. Their arguments escalated until a shoving match broke out. From amidst the chaos, a young woman grabbed a large stone off the ground and pitched it through the window of a coffee shop. The patrons of the shop ran outside and began screaming and shouting at each other. Pretty soon, long after the green smoke had cleared, there were mass amounts of people on the streets fighting.

"Yuffie, Tifa," Sky ordered.

"Already on it, boss!" Tifa called as she and the petite ninja created Doors to leave so they could calm the angry citizens.

"We got a situation here!" Cid called from one of the monitors. Leon and Sky rushed over only to see many of the downtown video feeds full of protestors, people carrying crudely-made, hastily-put-together picket signs that read 'Down with Restoration Regime!' and 'Protect your people, not your own interests!' The crowds did not look happy and several were carrying close range weapons such as bats and staffs, using them to smash in storefronts and vehicles. Others were lobbing Fire spells at the buildings around them, shouting for a revolution. "I counted five of these mobs around the city, at least 300 people in each one. And they're converging on the castle fast!"

"What the hell's gotten into them?" Sky shouted angrily. "Why are they reacting this way?"

"Phase one of the attack," Leon explained. "That green smoke must've been the chemical Lucrecia warned us about, the one that causes increased aggression and fear."

"Then why aren't we affected?"

"We're inside the castle. We have our own ventilation system that gives us filtered air."

"So if we step outside, we'll be infected?"

"No, I doubt the chemical is still airborne. It looks like it dissipated rather quickly, but those who inhaled it will stay under its influence for a few hours. We need to be cautious when dealing with them."

"Oh, and how are we supposed to deal with an angry fucking mob without hurting them or letting them hurt us?" Sky crossed his arms over his chest.

"According to Lucrecia, the chemical doesn't make people violent. Something has to trigger it, namely that broadcast that the Righteous Hearts just aired. It sent them into a panic and that's why they're rioting. But if we speak with them and try to reason with them, we might be able to reduce the effects of the chemical."

"There is no reasoning with them! Just look at them!" Sky pointed at the monitors, where fires were blazing and the crowds were screaming for the heads of the leaders. "They're out for fucking blood! _Our_ blood!"

"Well, we can't just let them run through the streets destroying everything we worked so hard to rebuild! And we still haven't found the passage into the waterways, which means any minute, all those people could be killed by a terrorist attack! Any minute! Do you understand that? We need to get them off the streets and back in their homes where they'll be safe!"

Sky nodded, turning back to Cid. "How are the others dealing with it?"

"They're working on it," Cid said, pointing to one screen where Aeris was standing in front of a crowd, waving her arms to get their attention. On another screen, Yuffie had a rioting mob contained inside a Protega bubble. In the case of Tifa, it looked as though she had given up on diplomacy and was fighting with a few of the protestors. Despite being quite outnumbered, she was easily holding her own against the 50 or so protestors brave enough to face her in battle.

"This is a disaster…" Sky moaned. "Leon, let's go help!"

"What about Hojo?" Leon questioned.

"If we don't deal with these mobs first, it won't matter whether or not we capture Hojo and his goons!" Sky pulled his phone out of pocket, speed-dialing the commander of his security task force responsible for navigating the waterways. "Sazh, tell me you've found the laboratories!"

"Not yet, sir," a voice replied from the other end. "We're working on it, but these waterways are very extensive-"

"You've got 20 minutes!" Sky hung up on Sazh, stuffing the phone roughly back in his pocket and grabbing Leon by the arm. "We don't have time to argue. Let's quell this insurrection."

(_**May 1**__**st**__**, 2012 – ATL**_)

Sora walked into the command centre of Disney Castle and leaned over the king's shoulder, observing the screens closely. Many were focused on the bases off-world, but one in particular had his attention. It had been an hour since Snow White had unexpectedly called a meeting for all the Princesses of Heart. She claimed to have discovered a new method of pure light manipulation that they could use against the Heartless and Maleficent. However, because of the nature of its experimental state, it was requested that no one else be present, lest the spell backfire and accidentally kill anyone with a shred of darkness in their heart. So King Mickey and a few of the commanding officers agreed to watch on the monitors from Disney Castle.

"How's the meeting going?" Sora asked.

"Looks good so far," Mickey replied. "They're just starting now. Snow White served tea a moment ago." On the screen, the four princesses were sipping out of tea cups and discussing strategies. Cinderella paused mid-sentence, placing a hand delicately against her forehead. She waved off Belle's assistance, smiling in a pained sort of way. Sora frowned at the interaction.

"Something's wrong," he murmured more to himself than anyone else. No sooner had the words left his lips, Cinderella collapsed to the ground. She was followed quickly by Belle and Kairi. Immediately afterwards, the monitor switched to white noise. Before they could blink, all the monitors in the room flickered out. "_Shit!_" Sora wasted no time holding his arm up to summon a Door to Light, but nothing happened. He froze in shock.

"Re-establish contact!" Mickey shouted at the nearest technicians. "Get Cid on the com, tell him the monitors went out! Sora, what's wrong?"

"I can't create a Door to get to them!" the Keyblade Master said frantically. Searching in his heart, he realised the reason. The connection between his heart and Kairi's was broken. That could only mean one thing and it was one thing he prayed to whoever was listening that it wasn't true. There was only one way to find out for sure. "I'm taking a gummi scout ship out to Snow White's villa!"

"Don't be foolish!" the king retorted. "It's too dangerous to fly through the Heartless domain! That's why the Corridors of Light were established in the first place!"

"Yeah, well now they're out of commission, so what else am I supposed to do? Kairi's in danger!" Sora didn't wait for permission to go; he simply raced out of the command centre towards the gummi shipyards. His heart was hammering in his chest and he kept hoping that he was wrong about his suspicions.

It was a difficult journey manoeuvring through enemy-infested territory, but Sora managed to break through to the world of the Dwarf Woodlands without drawing too much attention to himself. The scout ship landed in a clearing near the villa, kicking up dust and dead leaves in its wake. He jumped out of the cockpit the moment the hatch was open and dashed into the villa. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks.

Belle, Kairi, and Cinderella were lying motionless on the floor amidst shattered tea cups and crumbled biscuits. Their eyes were half-lidded and there was dried blood around the corners of their mouths and noses. Snow White was nowhere to be found. Sora stood in the doorway of the villa, frozen to the ground, unable to summon any thought or noise. He could only stare at the lifeless body of his last childhood friend. The connection between their hearts was broken because hers was no longer beating.

In a few shaky steps, Sora stood next to Kairi, stooping down beside her, and fingers poised close to her neck. He already knew the truth, but he clung to that small chance of hope that he was wrong and he'd find a pulse. He pressed his fingers against her neck and waited. After a few seconds of nothing, he stood up straight. Very slowly, he turned around and walked back to his scout ship. With trembling hands, he flipped on the com system to send a message back to Disney Castle.

"T-this is Sora," he mumbled, finding his voice weak and barely audible. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I need a medical team and a coroner here." He paused, hesitantly looking over his shoulder back at the villa. "I was…too late. They're dead. All dead." He bit his lip to keep it from trembling. "No sign of Snow White but it's unlikely she made it far." Keep it together, he told himself. "Send an investigation party as well. We n-need to find out what happened. Sora out." He flipped the com button again to save and send his message. It would take some time for the message to reach the castle and for the others to react and send the teams. Plenty of time for Sora to recuperate after seeing such a sight.

He sat in the pilot seat of his scout ship and allowed himself to mourn the loss of his last connection to Destiny Island. It was one of the few times he broke his promise to Kairi to not cry anymore.

(**Sept. 25, 2007, 6 minutes to midnight – CTL**)

Sky and Leon stood outside the castle gates down by the Bailey, watching as a crowd of angry and scared citizens approached. They only had 6 minutes to convince these people that the Restoration Committee was looking out for their safety, and that the mobs should disperse and go home. Leon seemed fairly convinced that these were educated people who would see reason and leave. Sky knew better, having dealt with crowd control like this before. It hadn't ended well then, and he doubted it'd end well now.

When the people were in earshot range, Leon called out, "I know what you've all heard!" The people at the front of the mob stopped, glaring at Sky and Leon. "I know the Righteous Hearts have you all scared! But I promise you, we're doing everything in our power to stop them!"

"You don't care about us!" one protester screamed, pointing her finger at Leon. "If you did, you'd step down like they asked!"

"Yeah!" another protested shouted. "We're the ones who will pay for your arrogance!"

"Stand down!" someone cried. "Listen to your people! Stand down!"

"I don't believe this…" Sky muttered. "What'd I tell you, Leon? You can't reason with them. They're crazy!" Leon ignored Sky for the moment, still trying diplomacy.

"Do you really think we'll be better off with the Righteous Hearts in control?" he called to the people. "They're terrorists! Their only goal is to seize control and manipulate all of you! We're interested in your wellbeing! They're the ones threatening you!" From amidst the crowd, a rock came hurtling towards Leon. He narrowly avoided being struck.

"Ok, that's it!" Sky roared, suddenly protective of Leon. "You've done things your way, now it's time for me to do things my way." He summoned his Oblivion Keyblade and used it to draw a line in the ground. "Anyone stupid enough to cross this line? C'mon, I dare you!" At first, the people looked dubious, then they turned angry, but none were brave enough to take Sky up on his threat. "That's what I thought! Go home! Let us handle the bad guys!"

"You're the bad guys!" someone shouted. A man broke away from the crowd and ran at the line in the ground. Sky narrowed his eyes, casting a spell under his breath. The line erupted into tall flames, forcing the man to stop dead in his tracks and back away. After a few seconds, Sky let the flames die down.

"Anyone else?" he asked seriously. No one else attempted to cross the line. "Good. Move along, citizens! Everything is fine!" He raised his hands in an attempt to subdue the riots. "Return to your homes! We have this under control!" Just then, the ground shook and there was a terrible noise, like metal scraping against metal, and the courtyard of Castle Luminous burst open, revealing a hideous and massive beast. It let out a deafening roar as its wings stretched out to the sky, shaking the debris from its scaly skin. Screams of terror filled the streets as protestors fled the scene, abandoning their picket signs and flags in search of cover and safety.

"Okay, so we _don't_ have this under control…" Sky muttered to himself. "Leon, what the fuck is that thing?"

"It looks like a Bahamut!" Leon called. "But those went extinct thousands of years ago! The Righteous Hearts must've figure out a way to revive one!" The Bahamut resembled something of a dragon, with a great wingspan, a long whipping tail, and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. It took off from the castle and swooped overhead, heading straight towards the downtown core. "We gotta stop it! They're destructive by nature!" Sky and Leon took off after the creature.

An explosion rocked the city as the dragon-like monster slammed into the nearest building, causing screams of fear and chaos to echo across the streets, reverberating off the buildings and under-construction skyscrapers. People ran in different directions, trying to escape the danger while inadvertently causing it by trampling one another, knocking each other down. Sky and Leon pushed through the panicked crowds, assessing the situation. There was the fierce Bahamut flying across the sky high above the city, firing magic bursts from its mouth. There was pandemonium in the streets. There were allies in the distance attempting to fend off the Bahamut and protect the citizens.

People were sent sprawling to the ground from the next explosion that went off, the force of the shockwave knocking them off their feet. Leon and Sky took refuge behind a wall, hoping to plan their next course of action.

Crouching low, Sky waved Leon closer so he could hear what was being said. "One of us is going to have to track down Hojo while the other leads everyone into battle against that Bahamut!"

"Wait, isn't defeating the Bahamut our top priority?" Leon questioned.

"If we let Hojo get away during this mess, we'll never see that fucker again! So, one of us has to catch him." He could tell by the look on Leon's face that the older man didn't want to miss out on the action. Neither of them did. Despite the danger, Sky was actually looking forward to the fight more than tracking down bad memories. "The question is how are we going to decide who does what?" He looked Leon in the eye. The other man was wearing a look of concentration and confidence.

"There's only one way to settle this," he answered, raising his fist. "Rock, paper, scissors?" Sky froze upon hearing those words. The only person he ever played that game with to decide important decisions was Riku, and at that moment, Leon was reminding Sky very much of how Riku acted, right down to his facial expression.

But despite the resemblance, there was something unique about Leon that made him so special, something that made Sky realise just how badly he had fallen in love with him.

"Oh god, if we don't make it…" Sky whispered as he reached out, unable to stop himself. He leaned forward, one hand latching onto Leon's neck, and closed the distance between their lips, pulling him into a passionate kiss. There was a moment of hesitancy behind Leon's movements, just a moment of shock, but the moment passed and Leon was tangling his fingers into Sky's hair, deepening their kiss.

When Sky withdrew, breathless, Leon murmured, "And if we _do_ make it?" Sky smirked, thinking himself clever.

"Then we'll fuck, I promise," he laughed. Leon couldn't help but burst into chuckles.

"Then let's finish this," he said, holding his hand at the ready to decide who would get to fight the big battle. "Winner faces the Bahamut." Chanting the words, "Rock, paper, scissors!" he splayed his hand flat while Sky produced a fist. "Paper wins." Sky scowled at his loss, straightening up to head to the laboratories.

"I'll see you later then," he said as he turned to leave. "And I mean it! After this battle, it's just you and me!" Leon grinned.

"I look forward to it. Take care of yourself!" They departed each other's company and went their separate ways, Leon to the city centre, while Sky headed for the castle.

For the first time in a long time, Sky's heart was doing back flips. It had been so long since he had felt giddy about anything, let alone love. Hell, it had been so long since he had _been_ in love, he almost couldn't remember what it felt like. He had spent so long living with the grief of losing Riku that he had to remind himself just how good it felt to feel this way about someone and have them return his emotions. Now he had a solid reason to fight his hardest.

(_**May 1**__**st**__**, 2012 – ATL**_)

Sora waited outside Snow White's cottage, feeling numb inside. The healers and investigators were still conducting a search of the premises and running checks on everything to determine exactly what had happened. After some time, Merlin came out and approached Sora.

"Well," he began. "As near as we can tell, they were poisoned from the tea." As the wizard said that, three sheet-covered gurneys were wheeled out of the villa. Sora watched them leave, his eyes never wavering away from the one with the body of his red-headed princess. He stopped the coroner a moment, uncovering the body slowly. They had been merciful enough to close Kairi's eyes. She almost looked peaceful. Sora frowned slightly, feeling his facial features dissolve into grief, but he quickly composed himself. He would not show weakness in front of his allies.

"Goodbye, Kairi…" he whispered only loud enough so that he could hear it and, he hoped, so that Kairi's spirit may hear it wherever it was. Leaning down, he placed a delicate kiss on her cold cheek and smoothed out her limp hair. "I'm so sorry I failed you…" He closed his eyes, taking a slow, shuddering deep breath, and waved the coroner away as he covered up the body once more. When he opened his eyes again, he was focused on Merlin. "And Snow White?" he asked darkly, revenge already on his mind.

"No trace of her anywhere in the villa. But that's the peculiar part. It's like she hasn't been there for days! We'll need to consult the video footage of their meeting to confirm this theory, but we checked the cup Snow White was using, and we found no traces of poison, no DNA samples, not even a fingerprint! What we did find, however, was a lingering trace of darkness." Sora's frown deepened.

"How is that possible? Princesses of Heart can't be turned into Heartless."

"We're not sure. Like I said, we'll need to check with the video footage, but I suspect a Mimic was at work here."

"A Mimic?" Sora turned away from Merlin, suddenly alarmed. "She could be anywhere! Any_one_!" Then his heart was filled with dread. "What about the real Snow White? Where is she?"

"I imagine she would be dead, seeing as the Corridors of Light are closed to us now. The only way that would happen is if all Princesses of Heart perished. I suspect that there was an operative working here trying to capture Snow White and when they did, they were able to learn all about our plans and our means of transportation. What better way to cut off the worlds from each other than to do away with all the Princesses at once?"

"We're dead in the water…"

"Exactly."

"But that means…" Sora looked up suddenly, realising that without the Corridors of Light to provide safe transportation of supplies and soldiers, the rest of the worlds were vulnerable. "Shit!" He took off without another word, running full tilt back to his scout ship.

When he returned to the scout, he saw a blinking light next to the com button, indicating he had a message waiting for him. He flipped a switch and pressed the com button to play the message back.

"Sora, this is the King. I'm afraid I have some grave news. Please report back to the castle immediately… This is something I have to tell you in person. Stay safe." Sora's heart sank as a familiar panic rose in his chest.

It took half an hour to reach the castle from the villa, but it felt like a lifetime. Sora, feeling like a bundle of nerves and anxiety, stepped out of his scout ship and was greeted immediately by the King.

"There's no easy way to tell you this," Mickey said solemnly, skipping formalities and getting straight to the point. "We sent two dozen scout ships out to check on our off-world bases. Half the scouts didn't return. The other half reported wide-spread destruction of all our bases. We lost 10 worlds in one hour. They were just gone… including…" Mickey took a deep breath, preparing to deliver terrible news. "Destiny Island." Sora's heart skipped a beat. Somehow he knew something like this would happen but he had always assumed it would be years from now.

"Why…?" he whispered to himself. He clenched his fist tightly, holding back the emotions and tears threatening to spill over from his eyes. His family, his friends, his home, all gone. He had nothing to hold on to, nothing to go back to, no one to save. "They weren't even fucking involved!" Without warning, he punched his fist into the hull of his scout ship, leaving a large dent and blood on the wrecked panel. "They were innocent! Oblivious!"

"I know…" Mickey nodded sadly. "I'm so sorry. Maleficent must've figured there was no point in leaving them untouched. I… I don't know what to say." He shook his head and closed his eyes. "We can't hold back the darkness any longer. I've been discussing with the other generals to conduct a mass evacuation of every single remaining world and bring them here. It's the only way to protect them all. We can't afford to stretch our resources so thin." Much of what the King was saying was going over Sora's head. He nodded numbly, waving Mickey off as he wandered away. "Sora?" Sora ignored the king and kept walking, unfocused on a destination, but knowing it had to be somewhere else.

"Riku is dead…" he mumbled, falling deeper and deeper into shock. "Roxas is dead. Kairi is dead. My mother is dead." He choked back a sob, leaning against a wall for support as the king came over. Sniffing, Sora said, "What's the point anymore? What are we fighting for? We're just prolonging the inevitable." Mickey winced, grief-stricken.

"Don't think like that!" he insisted. "We're fighting for freedom and life! We can't just give up!"

Sora scoffed. "Why not? It's so much easier."

"That's not the Sora I know. The Sora I know would never let the darkness win."

"The Sora you know is _dead!_" Sora snapped, rounding on the king with balled fists. "Along with countless millions of others!" Mickey observed him quietly, taking in that statement and the negative attitude.

"There _is_ one thing that may save us, but I don't know if it will work." Sora's tense stature relaxed just the tiniest bit upon hearing that.

"What thing?"

King Mickey hesitated a moment. "I don't want you to get your hopes up, but Yen Sid, Merlin, Cid, and I have been working on a plan. You remember how you went back in time to save the Cornerstone of Light before the castle was built?" Sora nodded, recalling the faint memory. It seemed like a lifetime ago, back in the days when fighting the Heartless and Nobodies was almost like a game. "We've been doing research for last two years on how to recreate the door that took you back. I won't go into the specifics, but needless to say, we're close to a breakthrough." Mickey's eyes shone with a gleam of hope. "We think in a few months, we'll be ready to start sending people back to warn our past selves of the danger that Maleficent poses. Maybe, if we can figure it out, we could send someone back far enough before Maleficent was even a threat." Sora's eyes widened and he took a deep breath.

"You mean you can make it so none of this happens?" He spread his arms wide, as if to indicate the world around him, the horrible events that had occurred, and the people who were lost. "You can turn back the hourglass?"

"Exactly. But please, like I said, don't get your hopes up just yet. We've only just begun to experiment with the Cornerstone of Light." But Sora wasn't listening anymore. He was thinking long and hard about the idea of erasing the last 6 years of his life, going back to make things right, to save everyone he loved. Riku, Roxas, Kairi, everyone. He straightened up a little taller.

"I volunteer." King Mickey stared at him with a mix of admiration and surprise.

"Let's not jump the gun here. Maybe you should sleep on it."

"There's nothing to consider. I'm doing it. I want to end this nightmare."

"It could be dangerous. There's no telling if it will work, where it will send you or _when_. Even if it does work, there's no way to bring you back! Are you sure?"

"Positive." Sora clenched his fist tightly. "It's my fault that Maleficent escaped all those years ago. If I had dealt with her back then, then we wouldn't be here, mourning the loss of 10 worlds on top of the hundreds we've already lost." King Mickey could see the resolve and determination in Sora's eyes, something he hadn't seen in a long time. He was not about to deny the young man of this tiny glimmer of hope. He nodded, maintaining eye contact with Sora.

"All right, then. We'll bring you up to speed on where things stand with our research." He gestured his arm towards the colonnade leading to the command centre. Sora began walking with a renewed sense of purpose. Maybe, just maybe, he could undo the damage done. Maybe he could save everyone after all. That was something worth fighting for.

(**Sept. 26, 2007 – CTL**)

Leon's eyes were trained on the beast flying over the city, attacking the civilians and being a general nuisance to their hard-earned peace. He was running down the street, trying to keep up with the Bahamut, waiting for an opening to attack. The fact of the matter was that the Bahamut was too fast, too far away, and too high up to reach. It was going to be a difficult battle.

"Leon!" called a voice. Aeris, Tifa, and Yuffie were further down the street from Leon, and hovering next to them were the three fairies Yuna, Rikku, and Paine.

"What happened to the rioters?" Leon asked quickly as he approached.

"They fled to their homes when the Bahamut broke free," Aeris explained. "But listen, Yuna and her friends have something to say!"

"We don't have time to deal with those troublemakers!" Leon groaned, getting ready to break into a jog away from the group.

"We want to help!" Rikku cried, offended, stamping her foot on an imaginary floor. "We're fairies! We have pixie dust that will let you fly!" Leon stopped running abruptly at this. If they could fly, it would seriously increase their advantage and allow them to fight the Bahamut beast properly.

"That got his attention," Paine muttered, folding her arms.

"Here's the deal," Yuna explained, hovering close to Leon's face. "We'll sprinkle you and your friends with pixie dust so you can fight that monster. In exchange, you have to give us that amulet around the Bahamut's neck."

"What amulet?" Leon squinted to see a sparkle of a gold chain around the beast's neck. It looked entirely uninteresting and harmless, but the price it would fetch undoubtedly had the fairies' interest. "Fine, whatever, the amulet's yours. Dust us up!" Yuna and Rikku exchange a quick high-five while Paine smirked in approval. They flew over each human's head and left a trail of glittering dust behind. As soon as the gold pixie dust made contact with the humans' skin, their bodies began glowing and their feet rose above the ground.

"Holy smokes!" Yuffie cried in delight. "We're flying! We're actually flying!"

"Just keep thinking happy thoughts!" Yuna said as she and her companions flew away. "Good luck! Don't forget our prize!"

Leon narrowed his eyes on the Bahamut, his head already full of happy thoughts revolving around a certain Keyblade Master. "Let's do this!" he ordered, leading his friends into battle.

oOoOo

Sky ran breathlessly through the waterways beneath Castle Luminous, his recently-recovered memories helping to guide him. Sazh and his group were not far behind, tracking Sky's signal with their GPS devices. The tunnels were humid, just like Sky remembered, and the floors were damp and made an echoing noise with each footfall. They were close to the entrance to the Righteous Hearts' headquarters. Sky could feel it.

Rounding a corner, Sky paused. There was an iron gate blocking his path and the button to open it was on the other side. He thought about simply cutting through the bars, but it would undoubtedly cause a noticeable ruckus and alert the Hearts to his presence. In the short time it took for Sky to mull over his options, Sazh and his team had caught up. Without needing to be told of the dilemma, Sazh pulled one of his silencer guns from his holster and fired a precise shot off that engaged the button on the other side, releasing the lock on the gate. The gate slid into the ground.

"Nice shot," Sky commented. Sazh nodded quickly as they all ran through the now-open corridor.

"You have a Keyblade, you know," Sazh joked as he jogged ahead. "Y'know, the one that unlocks any door?" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sir." Sky huffed a tiny chuckle.

"Don't make me demote you, Sazh. You're a good soldier. But you're a smartass."

Further up ahead, there was a flight of stairs that took them further down into the labyrinth of hallways and underground passages. Sky slowed his steps and silently indicated to his teammates to step lightly. They were approaching the first set of doors, and beyond them, no one knew what lay ahead. Two soldiers got a hold of a door handle each, and in a silent countdown, they wrenched open their doors. Sky, Sazh, and the security team charged in, weapons ready.

Immediately beyond the doors, there were two startled men wearing lab coats. "Hands up!" Sazh shouted, getting around besides the scientists. "Hands where I can see them! Down on the ground, now!" As Sazh dealt with the two scientists, Sky and the remaining team members continued on through the facility. Several guards split off from the main group to investigate the rooms they passed, but Sky was determined to find Hojo, and he knew exactly where the deranged doctor would be.

By the time he had reached his destination, the rest of his team was missing, making arrests throughout the whole compound. He came upon a door labelled 'Lab E' and froze. Through this door was the setting of his nightmares, the place where he had endured the worst three weeks of his life. His hands trembled as he reached for the knob, turning it slowly. The door creaked open at an agonizing pace, revealing the laboratory where Sky remembered being strapped down and tortured. The room was vacant of life, but all the equipment was out, indicating that someone had been there only moments ago.

Sky's eyes darted to the door within the lab that led to a room that he had never set foot in, but he could only assume it was Hojo's personal office. He dashed over to the door and pulled it open. Just inside, with his back to Sky, was the leader of the Righteous Hearts himself. Hojo appeared to be in the process of collecting a stack of file folders and documents, obviously about to flee the compound. He turned around when he heard the door open, putting on a rather brave smirk when he recognized Sky.

"Ah, if it isn't the dog of the Restoration Committee," he sneered. "How's life as a puppet treating you, Keyblade Master?" Sky bared his teeth and rushed at Hojo, pinning the doctor to the wall with his Keyblade, causing the files and papers in Hojo's hands to spill across the floor.

"Vermin like you don't get the right to speak," Sky hissed. Hojo began laughing, despite the pressure on his windpipe.

"Go ahead, kill me. Turn me into a martyr for my cause. We are _Righteous_! The people will hear of this injustice and know our cause to be true! In the end, we will win."

"You really think the people will follow the terrorists who attacked them? You're out of your mind."

"We shall see in time."

"Too bad you won't be around to see it." Sky applied more pressure, his hearts burning with anger. All the rage he had felt when he was held captive came rushing back to him. He was blinded by thoughts of vengeance and justice. Hojo sputtered and choked for breath, but otherwise, he did not defend himself. He honestly believed his death would only strengthen his cause. And perhaps that was what infuriated Sky the most – the arrogance and fanatical devotion that Hojo had. It was enough to make Sky want to snap Hojo's neck, not just for the things he had done in this timeline, but for all the atrocities he had committed in the other timeline as well.

And then a strange thought occurred to Sky. What would Leon do?

Sky suddenly backed away from Hojo, banishing his Keyblade all together. Hojo collapsed on his desk, coughing and holding his tender throat. Sky's senses returned to him and his rational thought came back. It was wrong to kill Hojo now. Killing him wouldn't erase the bad things he had done. It wouldn't wash away the memories in Sky's mind. It wouldn't even make Sky feel better. What good would killing Hojo do? And what would Leon think? After all the conversations and advice that Leon had given, Sky just couldn't bring himself to end Hojo's life. Taking a deep breath, Sky closed his eyes. This was one of the rare times he'd show mercy.

"You have the right to remain silent…" he murmured as he approached the barely-conscious doctor, binding his hands together. "You have the right to a fair trial…" And then, as more of an afterthought, he added, "And you have the right to live…"

So Sky had learned something after all from Leon. He only hoped it wasn't too late to tell Leon so. They still had a Bahamut to deal with.

oOoOo


	10. Chapter 9: Turn Back

**A/N:** To be honest, I'm a little disappointed with the numbers on the readership in this story. I kind of think I scared away half the Hourglass fans for making this a Sky/Leon story. :/ Oh well. If you made it this far, you're a real trooper and I commend you! Thanks for sticking it out until the end!

**Timeless**

Chapter 9: Turn Back

(**Sept. 26, 2007 – CTL**)

"Sazh, report!" Sky barked into his mobile device.

"We've rounded up everyone we could find," Sazh responded promptly. "The laboratories are being searched top to bottom."

"Anything on the Bahamut?"

"Not yet, sir, but we've managed to locate the room where it likely originated. There's a…" Sazh seemed to trail off. Sky waited expectantly for him to finish, but when he didn't, Sky turned to look at Hojo. The doctor was bound to his desk chair, and other than a bruised throat, he was unharmed. It had taken a great deal of will power, but Sky was going to allow him to live, if only to get the information they needed to stop his creation from destroying the city.

"How do we stop it?" Sky asked Hojo slowly. The doctor merely grinned. "I'm asking you, as one human being to another, as someone who _cares_ about the people of Radiant Garden, _how do we stop your monster_?" There was a slight falter in Hojo's demeanour, a slight hint of his resolve wavering, but nothing more.

"If you really cared about your people, you would have stepped down like we asked," he muttered. "_You_ put them in danger." Sky resisted the urge to cuss loudly. He took a deep breath and attempted to appeal to Hojo's intelligence.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find a compromise where you could have used your expertise to aid us. I don't know what could have possibly compelled you to summon a Bahamut to attack your own people-"

"It was your tyrannical administration!" Hojo roared suddenly. "I've seen what power can do to a person! I watched as Rufus Shinra and his CEOs plotted to take over Radiant Garden by force, and then I watched as another tyrant, Ansem the Wise, shut us down and cast out the victims of Shinra's megalomaniacal schemes! He banished me and my fellow scientists for following orders! How was that right? I ask you, how was that justified?"

Sky's mouth hung open in shock as Hojo's speech. He honestly had no idea how to even begin addressing that.

"So you see, I was trying to do the people a favour!" Hojo continued ranting. "I was trying to remove you from power before it was too late! Absolute power corrupts absolutely! It was only a matter of time before the Restoration Committee showed their true colours! You were just another Shinra and Ansem waiting to happen!"

"You're insane…" Sky muttered. He had always known that, but he couldn't think of anything else to say. Hojo was certifiably mentally unstable. Sky had always assumed that it was the war that had robbed Hojo of his sanity, but now he could see that Hojo had broken down long ago. "You honestly believe that the Restoration Committee is going to become corrupt?"

"Experience has taught me a great deal."

"Well, what makes you think you're more suitable for the job? What makes you believe that you're above being corrupted?"

Hojo grinned maniacally. "Because we are _Righteous_! We are TRUE!"

Sky had heard enough. There was no way they were getting any information out of Hojo. Throwing his arms in the air, Sky stormed from the room, unable to stand the sight of Hojo's self-assured smirk, as if the doctor had nothing left to lose and had nothing to offer. Sky walked down the hall, passing by a few of Sazh's men and directing them to the room where Hojo was tied up.

Sky had had enough and he was done with this whole Hojo thing. He was finally ready to move on and let someone else deal with that. Maybe it was just closure, but he really couldn't bring himself to hate the deranged scientist anymore. He just felt sorry for Hojo. And he felt even sorrier for the people who had gotten involved with Hojo, thinking they were making a difference. But Sky didn't have time to worry about any of that. At this point, it didn't matter how the Bahamut had come into existence. He had a battle to fight.

"S…s…s…" Sky paused, hearing a voice behind him. He turned around slowly to find Sazh with one of his guns pointing at Sky's backside.

"…Sazh…" Sky said. "What are you doing?"

"S…Sky…" Sazh's eyes were fluctuating between a desperate, pleading look, and complete neutrality, as if every few seconds, his mind was being wiped clean. The hands holding his gun were shaking. His right thumb moved to cock the hammer back. "B…bind…me…" Sky's eyes widened, recognizing this state right away. He held his hand up. "…Sky…" Sazh's trigger finger was starting to squeeze the trigger. Sky cast the binding spell and a green light washed over Sazh, paralyzing him from the neck down.

Quickly, Sky retrieved the gun from Sazh's hand. "Where is he? Where's Zemus?"

"The mage…" Sazh struggled to regain control over his voice. "The purple mage is down the hall, turn left, third door on the right. I caught him trying to flee from the Bahamut's originating room, and he… he used some kind of magic to suppress my mind."

"I know. You're very strong to have resisted as long as you did." Sky turned a dark look down the empty corridor. Perhaps there were two forms of closure he needed right now.

Taking off down the hall and using the directions Sazh gave him, Sky found himself outside a laboratory he had never seen before. The door was ajar, revealing an expansive room beyond, at least three times bigger than Lab E. The ceiling in this room was completely destroyed. Sunlight from the outside streamed in through the ruins. One might have assumed a cave in, but the way the debris was scattered and the way the edges of the destruction seemed to curve upwards, there was no doubt in Sky's mind that this was the room where the Bahamut had been created, and it must've burst through the roof, straight to the surface.

Sky stepped into the room, eyes scanning for the purple mage with the haunting white eyes. He heard a scuffle from the back corner and instinctively aimed his Keyblade at the sound. A few chunks of drywall collapsed, giving up the act of being a wall. Sky groaned. Where the hell had the evil wizard gone?

_Drop the Keyblade…_

Sky stopped moving, his consciousness slipping away. He lowered his arm, the Way to Dawn slipping from his hands.

_Tell your people to evacuate immediately. Tell them you didn't find a thing down here._

Sky reached into his pocket for his phone, but paused. His mind was slipping in and out of focus.

"…No…" he whispered. Zemus emerged from the shadows of the corner, his cold eyes burning a glare on Sky.

"Call your people off!" he demanded, his hand glowing with magic. As Sky became aware of the heavy weight pushing his consciousness down, it became easier to avoid the crush and regain control over certain parts of his body. Zemus was nowhere near as powerful as Maleficent had once been – he wasn't even as strong as the version of Zemus that Sky had to deal with in his timeline. His mind control magic was full of loop holes and weaknesses.

Sky began subconsciously pushing back on Zemus' spell, pushing it right back into the mage's mind. "No… Not this time, Zemus. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me…" In one final push, Sky had successfully reversed the spell and turned it on Zemus. Now the puppet was the puppeteer. Zemus could only control one mind at a time, so now that his magic was being used to control his own mind, there was no chance of him escaping his own spell unless someone from the outside commanded him to cease the spell. For the moment, he was powerless.

Sky smirked, feeling proud of himself for finding a solution to this problem that didn't involve maiming or killing someone. "How did you summon a Bahamut?"

There a brief pause before Zemus began talking completely against his will, his eyes devoid of life. "We've been doing research into creating an artificial heart for years. The war with Maleficent was the perfect excuse to send operatives to Halloween Town to steal Dr. Finklestein's data concerning his work on artificial hearts. We refined his work and were ready to begin testing, but we didn't want to use human test subjects until we were sure, so we tested it on a lesser creature."

"But why a Bahamut? Why not a Chocobo or something less destructive?"

"We needed to show your regime how serious we were. Would you have cowered in fear from a 7-foot tall Chocobo?"

Sky rolled his eyes. "So how do we stop the Bahamut?"

"Its heart is its weakness. It's unstable. A well-aimed blow will shatter the magic used to bring it back in the first place."

"Nice. That's all I need to know." Sky closed his eyes and lifted the Binding spell from Sazh. He pulled out his phone and called him. "Sazh, how you feeling?"

"Much better, sir. Did you apprehend the mage?"

"Well, it's kinda like he apprehended himself. You may want to come collect him. I'm heading to the surface to fight the Bahamut."

"Roger that." Sky closed his phone and replaced it in his pocket. Things were finally starting to look up. One last problem to solve and he'd be home free. Holding his hand up, he created a Door to Light to take him to the surface where Leon and the others were waiting for him.

oOoOo

Leon and the rest of the Restoration Committee flew after the Bahamut at fast speeds, closing the distance between them within moments. Yuffie, being the swiftest of the group, reached the creature first, and threw her large shuriken at the Bahamut. Her weapon ricocheted off the beast's back and fell towards the city. Yuffie made a noise of frustration and chased after her discarded weapon.

Aeris was the second to reach the Bahamut. She cast Stop on the beast, slowing it down for only a few seconds, but giving Tifa and Leon a chance to catch up. Tifa latched onto the beast's head and drove her fist straight to its skull, but she let out a sharp yelp of pain, withdrawing her injured fist.

"It's like it's made of diamond!" she cried, shaking out her sore hand. Leon fired a shot at the creature's face with his Revolver, but the bullet rebounded and winked out of existence. Trying again, he drove the blade edge of his Gunblade right between the Bahamut's eyes, but the blade barely left a scratch.

The Bahamut let out a roar of annoyance and swatted at Tifa and Leon. Aeris quickly cast a Protega shield around them to protect them from the car-sized hand that tried to strike them. She then cast Bind. A green ripple of light enveloped the creature but faded a moment later, leaving the creature barely fazed. Yuffie was back in action again, winding up to throw her shuriken. Her body became a black and tan blur as she began rapidly spinning in circles, gaining momentum before she let the shuriken go. The force of the blow caused the dragon-like creature to stagger backwards a moment. There was a dull scratch on its shoulder where the shuriken had impacted. The Bahamut let out a tremendous roar.

"Uh…" Yuffie paled, backing away slightly. "Wrong move?" The Bahamut appeared to be taking a deep breath before releasing a powerful and massive ball of fire from its mouth, aimed directly at the little ninja. Yuffie cast Protega on herself and shielded her eyes from the blinding light. Suddenly, a Door to Light formed right in front of her, and Sky emerged, already donning the silver and black Final Form version of his outfit and wielding two Keyblades. He used his Keyblades to deflect the fireball back at the Bahamut.

"You okay?" Sky called over his shoulder to Yuffie. The ninja nodded, in awe of Sky's luminosity. Sky grinned and turned to the rest of their group. "Go for the heart! The Bahamut's heart is unstable!"

"How are we supposed to do that?" Tifa asked as she flew closer to hear Sky. "Its scales are made of an impenetrable material." Sky thought about it for a moment. His eyes caught a glimmer of imperfection on the Bahamut's shoulder where Yuffie had just struck him.

"Leon, time to put those Light lessons to good use," Sky said. "Combine your Renzokuken technique with a Fire spell and your Gunblade should be able to slice through that crack in the Bahamut's hide." Leon's eyebrows shot into his bangs.

"How do you know for sure?" he questioned.

"I don't. But I have faith in you." Sky took Leon's hand, gave it a comforting squeeze, and echoed some words he had said only a few days earlier. "You can do whatever you like with your Light if you just focus." A ghost of a smile appeared on Leon's lips as he recalled those words. "I'll be right behind you."

"We'll distract it!" Yuffie offered brightly.

"Then I can unlock the heart and send it back to wherever it came from!" Sky added.

"Right," Leon murmured. They all turned to face the Bahamut. Now would have been an opportune moment to toss off a catchy one-liner, something witty to diffuse the situation, but the Bahamut had chosen that exact moment turn its body and whip its tail at the group. They all made varying degrees of alarmed noises as they dodged the beast's tail. After a moment of stunned silence, Sky let out an abrupt laugh.

"Why are we just floating here, staring?" he exclaimed, his eyes brighter than ever. "Let's fucking end this!"

The group burst into action.

Tifa, Yuffie, and Aeris began swooping around the Bahamut's face, drawing its focus to them. As soon as the Bahamut was following them with its eyes, Sky and Leon flew at the crack in its shoulder. Leon was already charging up his magic for his Renzokuken attack, and just as it was ready to go, he pulled at the Light in his heart, bathing his Gunblade in a golden fiery glow. His entire form was surrounded by flames and energy, and the flickering light was distraction enough for the Bahamut to stop swatting at the women fluttering in front of it. It made a noise of rage and turned its claws on Leon.

"Shit!" Sky cursed, realising that their plan was on the verge of failing. He quickly cast a barrier around Leon to protect him just as the Bahamut's hand collided with the barrier. "Hurry, Leon!" Leon sprinted forward, driving his Gunblade into the mark on the Bahamut's shoulder where Yuffie's shuriken had just barely pierced. The intensity of the heat coursing off the blade sliced right through the dragon's hide, straight into its core. The Bahamut let out a monstrous roar. As soon as Leon removed his blade from the wound, Sky plunged his Keyblade in and unlocked the beast's heart. It cried out, flailing about.

The Restoration Committee backed away a safe distance as the Bahamut crackled with raw deteriorating magic, the mana holding it together dissipating rather quickly. Within seconds, the dragon's form began to fade, wisps of it floating away heavenward, until all that remained was a broken shard of a crystallized heart. And a moment after that, it was gone completely. Leon gave a satisfied sigh, relieved it was over.

"Thank god…" he whispered. His eyes landed on Sky. "What about Hojo and the rest of the Righteous Hearts?"

"Taken care of," Sky answered promptly. Leon shot him a worried look. "No one was harmed," Sky added as an afterthought to calm whatever worries were going through Leon's head. "It was all rather civil, actually."

"That's…" Leon couldn't decide between being shocked or pleased to hear the news. "That's good." He decided he'd save the praise for later. "What should we do with Lucrecia?"

"Everything she told us was true. The Righteous Hearts had a mage who controlled her mind and forced her to upload the virus. I say we let her go."

"Sounds fair to me."

Around the city, people were emerging from various hiding places, hesitantly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Once they were certain the danger had passed, they began returning to their homes, thoughts of riots and protesting long forgotten in wake of the disaster that had just occurred. The chemical was gone from their systems and their anger subsided. Sky and the rest of the Restoration Committee landed on the ground in the downtown core, ready to help anyone harmed in the attack.

After doing a quick overhead assessment of the city, Leon came to the conclusion that only a few commercial office buildings were damaged. There didn't appear to be any serious injuries. Most of the injuries that any of the civilians had received were due to clumsiness of the people trying to escape the initial danger. He was just about to fly up to a rooftop of a damaged building when suddenly, three angry-looking fairies appeared in his sights.

"Where is it?" Rikku demanded, folding her arms and frowning deeply. Her tiny frown looked almost comical on a face as small as hers. "Where's the amulet?"

"What amulet?" Leon asked. Rikku let out a huff.

"Don't play dumb!" she screeched. "We wanted that pretty gold amulet around the creature's neck! Now _where is it_?" Leon turned his attention to the debris where the Bahamut had breathed its final breath. There was no amulet amongst the rubble. It must've been tied to the beast's existence and vanished when the Bahamut did.

"Uh… Sorry. It was destroyed with the Bahamut." Rikku let out a tiny gasp while Paine and Yuna merely groaned in disappointment.

"You jerk!" Rikku cried, kicking the side of Leon's head with a surprisingly strong leg. Leon let out a yelp. Paine snapped her fingers, and the fairy magic keeping the Restoration Committee afloat vanished, letting them drop three feet to the ground. Unprepared, Yuffie, Leon, and Tifa landed on their asses while Aeris managed to catch herself in time.

"Last time we ever help _you_ guys!" Yuna hissed, making a face at them before flying away with her companions.

"Ha, ha, Leon got bitch-kicked by a fairy," Sky laughed as he joined his friends on the ground. Leon scowled as he pulled himself to his feet and dusted off his pants. "What amulet were those girls talking about anyway?"

"How should I know?" Leon muttered. "They're treasure-hunting opportunists. They probably saw something shiny and just had to have it." He rubbed out the spot on his temple where Rikku had kicked him. "How can such a tiny thing kick so hard?" Sky snorted behind his hands. "Shut up, Sora."

"Make me, Squall!" Sky stuck his tongue at the older brunette.

"Oh, you two are so cute!" Yuffie giggled. "Let me know when the wedding is, 'kay?" Sky and Leon abruptly began blushing and babbling excuses. "Whoa, guys, I was just kidding. Unless… OH!" Yuffie's eyes lit up with a newfound knowledge. "Are you two…?" She made an awkward gesture with her hands. "Y'know…"

"Yuffie, please!" Leon groaned, trying to hide his flushed face with his hand.

"Oh my god, you are! Since when?"

"Leon, you dirty old man!" Tifa exclaimed happily, clapping Leon over the shoulder and nearly knocking him off his feet. "I didn't know you liked 'em young."

"Sky's not young!" Leon protested. "He's only four years younger than me!"

"Yeah, but Sora is, what, ten years younger? Eleven?"

"He's not Sora!"

"Coulda fooled me."

"You guys…" That came out as more of a desperate plea than an angry retort.

"Cradle-robber!" Yuffie laughed, hanging onto Leon's hand like a three-year-old. "Cradle-robber! Cougar!"

"Cougars are women," Tifa corrected.

"Alright, that's enough…" Aeris finally spoke up, chiding Yuffie and Tifa gently. "Leave them be." She began shooing them away. "C'mon, we've got more restoration efforts to work on." One by one, the ladies wandered away, leaving Sky and Leon alone.

For a few minutes, there was a quiet avoidance of eyes and shuffling. Just as it was about to get beyond awkward, Sky broke the silence by giggling like a moron.

"Cradle-robber, eh? Never thought of it like that."

"It's not like that…" Leon grumbled, making a mental note to strangle Yuffie the next chance he got. "I mean… when you were a teenager, I guess I thought you were adorable, but I…"

"I'm kidding. Relax."

"I…" Leon paused mid-ramble and blinked. "Oh…" The corners of his mouth turned up, bordering on a foolish grin. "But… seriously, though…" He looked at Sky, finding it hard to grasp the words to explain the emotions swimming through his heart and making him feel weak in the knees. "Sora, the way he is right now, was never the one I had feelings for." He took a step closer to Sky. "It's always been you, the person you became."

A smile slowly crept onto Sky's face. Without another word, he pulled Leon into a kiss. His hands dove into the other's hair, intensifying the kiss, like electric sparks coursing through their bodies, or like a fire burning out of control. It was a relief to finally have this, to claim his lips, but at the same time, it wasn't enough at all. Sky drew back, somewhat breathless.

"My offer still stands," he whispered. Leon made a confused face. "About if we made it through the battle…"

"Ah…" Leon's eyes sparked with excitement. Sky smirked devilishly, shrugging casually.

"A promise is a promise, after all."

Leon nipped affectionately at Sky's bottom lip. "Your place or mine?"

(_**May 29, 2008 – ATL**_)

Sora let out a heavy sigh as he walked into his room, flicking on the light switch as he passed through the doorway. It had been a long day and he was ready to collapse in bed. However, his ears picked up the distinct sound of a soft groan coming from his bed, making him tense up.

"Riku?" he said quietly to the mass of blankets shifting around on the bed. "Are you awake?" Eventually, a mop of silver hair emerged from the blankets. Riku did not look pleased about having the lights turned on. "Oh, sorry!" Sora quickly flicked the lights off and felt his way over to the bed to sit down so he could take his shoes off. "When did you get back?"

"This afternoon," Riku answered in a tired voice. "Today's mission went faster than we expected, so I came home early." Sora smiled warmly at the word 'home'. It may not have been Destiny Island and it may not have been an actual house they were living in, but they had made the best of their poor situation, this tiny dormitory room in Disney Castle's barracks. This room had become their home because of the many happy memories they had shared together, especially the ones from the past month.

Sora listened as Riku shifted in the bed and crawled up behind the brunette, lacing his arms around Sora. "I wish we could stay like this forever…" Riku whispered in Sora's ear. Sora smiled wider, his heart full of love. He turned around so he could embrace Riku properly and plant a kiss on his lips.

"Me too…" he whispered back. They sat together in the darkness, holding each other, pretending for just one moment that they weren't fighting a war that couldn't be won. The outside world didn't matter. Sora closed his eyes, his hands gently smoothing out the small hairs on the back of Riku's neck. This was perfect. He really did want this to last forever. But he knew it couldn't. "You've got a mission tomorrow?"

"Yeah…" Riku replied, reluctant to break the spell just yet. "Port Royal. One of the survivors is coming with me." Sora perked up. Out of all the worlds he'd travelled, Port Royal was one of his favourites.

"Is there any way I can convince you to let me go in your place?" Sora asked with a wicked grin. "And I mean _any way_." Riku's lips twisted into a sneaky smirk.

"I was given a direct order by King Mickey himself. So no, there's nothing you can do to make me change my mind." Sora resisted the urge to make a ridiculous pout. That wasn't his thing.

"C'mon, pleeeease? I just want to make sure they're okay!"

"Then you should've asked Mickey for the mission."

"I did, and he said no."

"Well, there you go."

"Ugh! You're insufferable!"

"And you're acting like a whiney brat." Riku pecked Sora's nose playfully. "What difference does it make? You'll find out their answer when I get back." Sora sighed.

"I guess so…" There was a heavy feeling in his heart, something he couldn't quite shake, something he couldn't comprehend, but it left him feeling just a little worried. Instead of trying to figure it out, he allowed his heart to do the leading, and right now, his heart was telling him to kiss Riku, so he did. Their kiss was a slow, passionate one, conveying the apprehension that Sora felt. Riku pulled back just far enough so he could see Sora's eyes. In an unspoken way, they told each other how much they loved each other. They rarely ever used words to say so. They were beyond simple words. With one tender smile, Riku calmed Sora's soul and silenced his anxiety. For one shining moment, Sora believed that everything would be okay.

And then Riku tossed Sora on the bed and assaulted his lips once more. Everything would be more than okay. For one shining moment.

(**Sept. 26, 2007 – CTL**)

In a loud thud, Sky had Leon pinned to his bedroom door, his lips claiming Leon's in a heated kiss. His hands dove into Leon's hair, tangling and smoothing out the tresses all at once. Leon's hands gripped Sky's waist, pulling their hips together. He abandoned Sky's lips and began laying wet kisses down the Keyblade Master's neck. Their actions were frenzied and erratic. Basic instincts had kicked in, lust filling their senses, and a great urgency for intimate contact. It had been too long for both of them.

With hands still gripping Sky's hips, Leon used the leverage to reverse their positions, pushing Sky against the door. His hands left Sky's hips and stripped both of them of their shirts. Their lips came back together, hot and open-mouthed. Sky's hands were racing to get Leon's belt buckle undone. He paused their make-out session to curse quietly.

"Why do you wear, like, a million belts?" he hissed. Leon chuckled in a low voice.

"To keep eager perverts like you out," he responded. After nearly a minute of watching Sky struggle with the numerous amounts of belts around his waist, Leon took pity on the younger man and undid the last two. Sky let out a laugh and planted a kiss on Leon's stomach just above his waistband before tugging the offending article of clothing off. As they broke away from the door, Leon was already making short work of Sky's pants and boxers.

Somewhere along the way, they collapsed on Sky's bed, their lips rarely breaking contact. Hands roamed freely, exploring bare skin, touching, feeling, and learning their way around. Sky had the upper-hand at first, hovering above Leon's body, trailing quick kisses lower and lower until he came to his prize. Leon writhed in pleasure as Sky took him in his mouth. Yes, it certainly had been _far_ too long since anyone had touched Leon like that. He was almost worried that he wouldn't be able to hang on much longer.

Just before Leon hit his point of no return, Sky abandoned his current task and began kissing Leon's lips. The older man took it as his cue to flip their positions, thrusting his hips against Sky's. Their breaths came in laboured and they made all kinds of noises, heavy grunts, soft sighs, husky moans. Sky held Leon tightly against his body, desperately clawing at the other's back. Not wanting to be on the bottom for an extended period of time, he flipped Leon onto the bed beneath. His lips claimed Leon's hungrily as he thought of a compromise to the age-old question of who got to be top and who would be bottom.

Taking a deep breath, Sky straddled Leon's hips and carefully slid down, groaning at the pressure and heat invading his body. Leon let out a cry of pleasure, sitting up and bracing his back against the headboard so he could hold Sky closer. They stilled for only a moment as Sky adjusted to Leon's size. He thought about making a joke about how he'd never had something that large before, but then Leon hit a certain spot deep inside, and all thoughts were erased from Sky's brain, replaced by a fuzzy warm feeling instead. He was a little out of practise, but after a few slow thrusts, he began picking up the pace.

They moved together, hands gripping each other, as if their very existence depended on holding the person in front of them. Lips clashed and fought for dominance. Their rhythm increased, the air grew hotter, their kiss became wild, and thoughts turned to mush. This love-making session wasn't about drawing things out or prolonging the end. They understood that there would be other times to do that, to learn each other's secrets and tells, to explore flesh to see which parts incited what noises. Right now, it was just about passion, raw hungry lust. It was about releasing all their pent-up tension and emotion that they had been clinging to for years.

Sky cried out as he hit his orgasm, his fingers tightening their grip within Leon's long brown hair. His vision seemed blinded by white light as his breath hitched. He kept moving his hips, his body shivering in bliss as Leon join him in ecstasy, burying his face against the hollow space between Sky's neck and shoulder. For many minutes, they sat there breathing heavily and trying to get control over their racing hearts. Their thought process was slow to return.

"God…" Sky whispered, finally regaining motor control. "That was intense…" Leon was still having trouble summoning words, looking quite dazed. "You alive in there…?"

"Hmm…" Leon murmured. He pulled his face away from Sky's shoulder and planted a chaste kiss on the younger man's lips, a striking contrast to the lustful kisses they had just shared. "I love you, Sora…" Mad little butterflies fluttered in Sky's stomach. There Leon goes, saying his real name and the 'L' word in one sentence. It was enough to make Sky feel like a puddle of goo.

"I love you too, Squall," he replied, nuzzling Leon's cheek. It was the first time he had said those words with Leon's real name tacked on and they rolled nicely off his tongue. But the tough-guy persona of his decided it was too cheesy to repeat ever again for a long time to come. He chuckled at his internal musings, earning an odd look from Leon. Catching the look, Sky attempted to explain the inner workings of his brain. "Oh, it's nothing, I just, uh… I'm not used to saying 'I love you'. So… uh…" Well, so much for explaining himself.

Leon grinned and nipped at Sky's nose. "It's okay. It's been a long while, so I'm not used to it either. But… I guess there's not much point in killing the meaning of it, right? It should be obvious from now on."

"Yeah…" Sky smirked. "See, this is what I love about you. You get me. Even the incredibly awkward parts of me that I like to pretend don't exist." They lay there a while longer in silence, holding each other close, not moving since they had reached their climaxes. Sky's fingers tracing shapes out on Leon's arms as he hummed contently. This was perfect. Everything was perfect.

"To be honest…" Leon whispered, breaking the silence. "I was kinda nervous about doing this… with you." Sky looked surprised.

"Why?" After a beat, Leon made a comical grimace. He looked like he was regretting saying anything. "C'mon, what were you nervous about?"

"I…" Leon cracked a small smile. "I thought you might…" He leaned his forehead against Sky's chest to hide the amusement on his face. "I thought you would call me 'Riku' while we were…" It took a beat for Sky to realise what Leon had just said, and then another beat for the actual meaning behind the words to sink in, at which point he burst into laughter.

"Why would I call you that?" he laughed, drawing Leon's face away from his chest so he could see his face properly. Leon was grinning slyly.

"You don't remember calling me 'Riku' a few nights ago? You were really drunk…"

"I did? Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Sky could barely speak through the laughter. "Oh god, how awkward!" Leon joined him in the mirth. "Jeez, is there any way I can make it up to you?" Leon cocked an eyebrow suggestively. Sky read its meaning easily. "Ah. So. Ready for round two?" _Now_ everything was perfect. And it was only getting better.

(_**June 12, 2013 – ATL**_)

The sounds of footsteps filled the hallways of Disney Castle. Sora was heading to the throne room where the secret staircase to the Cornerstone of Light was located. Today was the big day, the day when everything would change. He was going to travel backwards through time to hopefully erase the entire war from existence. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous, but at this point, what other choice did he have?

Sora pushed open the grand doors leading into the throne room and walked through, his façade conveying the very epitome of bravery. In the throne room, the last remnants of their commanding officers were waiting, along with some of the highest ranked soldiers in the army. King Mickey was standing by the staircase. Sora squared his shoulders and walked between the neatly arrange ranks, his head held high. He couldn't let anyone see the fear in his heart.

"Well, this is it," King Mickey said as Sora drew near. "Are you ready?" Sora said nothing but he nodded. Mickey took a deep breath. "I want to express my sincerest gratitude. You're doing the universe a huge service." Sora swallowed thickly. It almost sounded like King Mickey was sending Sora off to his death.

"Right…" he muttered. He cast a glance over his shoulder. Cid, Merlin, Yen Sid, and Donald were standing on one side of the crowd. Sora looked at the other side of the crowd, spotting friends of his spread throughout, including Hayner, Aladdin, and Robin Hood. All these people were depending on him to save them and the ones they had lost.

"We believe in you, Sora," Hayner said, stepping forward, holding his arm up. Sora managed a weak grin, bumping his forearm against Hayner's. The Twilight Town native had come a long way from being the spunky teenager to growing up into a battle-hardened soldier who had seen his fair share of death during his time with the Disney army.

"Thanks, man," Sora whispered. "I'll change everything. I promi-" He was interrupted by a loud and abrupt whistling noise. Hayner gasped and stumbled a few steps, his hands slowly moving to cover a spot on his chest where a bloodstain was gradually spreading. Sora's eyes widened in shock. Hayner looked down slowly after a beat, staring at the bullet wound in his chest, before he finally succumbed and collapsed. Another whistle noise sounded off, but this time, Sora and all the assembled soldiers had managed to cast Protega on themselves. A magic bullet harmlessly impacted on Sora's shield. The soldiers began scrambling as Sora dropped to the floor, checking on Hayner.

"Heartless Snipers!" someone shouted as the soldiers broke rank and rushed to the doorway. Alarms began wailing and claymore defence drones materialized from pillars of light. But Sora heard none of this. He was cradling Hayner's lifeless body. Even after witnessing massacres on a planetary scale, he still found himself reeling in shock. One minute, Hayner was alive, giving Sora the courage to do what he had to do, and the next minute, Hayner was just another casualty, dead in Sora's arms.

When Sora finally came to his senses, the room was in chaos. Somehow, the Heartless had managed to break through their defences and their numbers were overwhelming. Sora carefully placed Hayner's body on the ground and he stood up straight, summoning Way To Dawn to his hands. His blood boiled with thoughts of revenge and anger. He was prepared to kill every last Heartless beast in the building.

As the first flood of enemies broke through the doorway, Sora was at the front of the line, plunging his Keyblade into the Heartless. He sliced and cut his way through, clearing a path for his allies to break through and attack the ones pushing in from the back. Somewhere, he heard a voice calling for him, telling him to get out of the battle and to fall back to the throne room, but he ignored this voice. It was more important, in his mind, to deal with this invasion.

Once a path was cleared, the other soldiers took the fight to the corridors, but despite the slight break in the enemy ranks, the Heartless were still dealing heavier casualties than the forces of Light. This was a losing battle and everyone knew it. Out of the corner of Sora's eye, he saw the wizard Merlin get taken down. Further down the hall, Aladdin was pinned to a wall and slain. Robin Hood wasn't quick enough with his arrows and he was killed. Sora couldn't focus. All his allies were dying and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it.

"The King has fallen!" cried a soldier. "King Mickey has fallen in battle!" Sora froze upon hearing that, dropping his guard for just a moment, his blood running cold. King Mickey was dead. And along with him, the dream of peace was dying faster than Sora could have ever imagined. They may not have always seen eye to eye, but Sora never wished him dead.

In his moment of weakness, an armoured Heartless soldier made a dive at him with its sword drawn, but was knocked out by Cid. "Get your head in the fight, kid!" he called, batting another Heartless aside. Sora snapped out of his morbid reverie and resumed fighting. "We can't hold them back anymore! Fall back to the Cornerstone room!" Sora nodded and dismissed his Keyblade so he could move faster. As he ran, he released a powerful Blizzana spell to freeze the enemies around them. The only allies left alive besides Sora were Cid and Yen Sid. They jumped down the flight of stairs and into the secret chamber.

Pushing through the doors leading to the room that housed the Cornerstone of Light, Sora quickly shut them behind them and spelled it with a Protega shield to give them some breathing time. Cid flew over to the computer that had been set up in the room, dropping his staff with a resounding clatter, and he began typing up some code. Catching on quickly to what Cid was up to, Yen Sid abandoned his position by the door and began performing some magic next to the Cornerstone.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Sora demanded, still breathing heavily but anticipating more action, poised in front of the door with his Keyblade at the ready.

"We're opening the Door to the Past," Yen Sid answered easily, as if it were a normal thing to be bending the space-time continuum. Sora's eyes widened.

"Now? We don't have time for that! We're fucked if we don't beat back these Heartless!"

"We're already fucked, kid!" Cid snapped, not breaking eye-contact with his monitor, even as it flickered in and out of power. "This is our last chance to make a difference!" Huffing in frustration and stress, Sora turned away from his two remaining companions and cast another Protega spell over the failing one.

"Well hurry up! I'll hold them back as long as possible!"

Yen Sid concentrated deeply, his eyes closed and his arms raised, compelling the Cornerstone of Light to lend him strength, using the residual energy from the last Door to the Past to aid in recreating a path. Meanwhile, Cid was typing up a storm on his computer, performing calculations on the fly, sending instructions to the empty archway to start generating power and form a temporal field. When Yen Sid felt a Door to Light forming, he pulled back on it, inverting it and turning it into a Door to the Past.

There was a sudden bright light exploding from the spot the Door formed on, blinding everyone in the room for a few seconds. When the light died down, they stared in awe at the sheer brilliance and luminosity bleeding out of the newly-formed Doorway. One step beyond that threshold would take someone backwards in time, but to what point and what destination was unclear.

"Send a probe through," Yen Sid told Cid.

"No time, the Heartless are right outside our hiding spot!" Cid called, bringing up an initial diagnosis of the Door to determine if it was safe to step through at all. "It looks good! Sora, you've got a green light to go!" The entrance to the room shook as something heavy slammed into the door, sending tiny splinters flying across the room.

"I can't leave now, the Heartless are breaking through!" Sora shouted, his arms shaking with adrenaline.

"We can handle them! Now go before it's too late!"

"I'm not leaving you two to die!" Cid groaned in annoyance at Sora's chivalry while Yen Sid patiently approached the young man.

"Sora…" he said slowly, hoping his words would be heeded. "This mission holds precedence over all else. I'm afraid this timeline is doomed, but if you go back and change things, you can erase all this!"

"There's no guarantee of that!" Sora cried, trying to keep the fear from his voice while his eyes remained trained on the door. "What if it doesn't work? I can't let the castle be overrun or I'll never get another shot at this! I'm staying and fighting until the end!" There was pounding coming from the other side, an endless array of Heartless demons just dying to get their hands on Sora, to snuff out the last protector of Light.

"If you don't go now, then it truly will be the end of all things!" Yen Sid insisted, his voice growing bolder. "Your sense of duty is misplaced."

"Then one of you two do it! I'm needed here and now!"

"For god's sake, kid!" Cid yelled, getting out of his chair in a sudden swift movement. "We're too old for this shit! You're the chosen one! You're the one who has to do this! We got your back covered!"

"I'm staying here! If I'm going to die, then it will be in a manner of my choosing, and I fucking choose this! So fuck off and let me fight!" Everything about Sora's tone and stance made it clear he had no intention of going through with his mission. For whatever reason, he felt his place was in the here and the now. Cid and Yen Sid glanced at each other and an unspoken agreement was made between the two elder men.

Another slam on the door indicated that the Heartless were moments away from getting in and unleashing hell upon the unfortunate ones inside, and it was during that momentary distraction that Cid grabbed Sora under the arms, hooking his staff across Sora's chest to prevent the young man from escaping.

"What the fuck?" Sora roared, struggling instantly to break free. "Let me go, asshole!"

"_Bind!_" Yen Sid cast the Binding spell on Sora, paralyzing him from the neck down. "I'm sorry, Sora. You're our last chance for peace. You have to survive this ordeal, Keyblade Master." He nodded at Cid, who dragged a cursing, angry Sora towards the Door to the Past.

"You fuckers!" he screamed, clenching his teeth. "Don't do this! I can fight!"

"You'll be arriving in 2005," Cid explained, briefing Sora on his mission, ignoring the hateful things he was spewing. "You'll either arrive in Traverse Town or Disney Castle. Find your past self and bring him to the Castle immediately. If we're going to survive the first strike, we need a massive army."

"I know the fucking mission!" Sora hissed. "Let me go already! Just let me clear the castle of Heartless!"

"It's too late for that!" They were less than a foot from the Door now, close enough that Cid could toss Sora through, which he prepared to do. For the briefest of moments, staring into the heart of the Doorway, the anger drained out of Sora until all that was left was sheer terror of the unknown beyond the Door.

"What if it doesn't work?" he cried, his voice betraying his feelings of dread. "Where will I go? I've got nothing left to come back to!"

"Keep faith, kid," Cid said softly, losing his gruffness and feeling a similar fear creeping up on him. "Good luck." Without another word, he pushed Sora through the Door. The last thing Sora saw before the blinding light took him was the sight of his Protega shield failing and the doors flying open, Heartless soldiers swarming inside and opening fire while Yen Sid and Cid leapt into the fray.

"Nooo!" he screamed. And then, there was nothing but a white void.

He was falling, falling through time and space, his essence flooding with a weird sort of contentment, as if the last few minutes of his life didn't happen. As he fell faster, he could feel his heart growing warmer and his fear lessened. The last thing he sensed before losing consciousness was a cool breeze on his skin, the smell of salty ocean water hitting his nostrils, the sound of waves mixed with rushing wind roaring in his ears, and the hazy red glow of a sunrise.

His body impacted on the ocean surface of a strange new world and he sank, unable to move or swim, asleep and drowning. Somewhere from the surface, a hand latched onto his and pulled him up, brought him to the shore, forcing air into his lungs. Waking up, he was filled with panic, still unable to breathe. He rolled over, the Bind spell having worn off by now, and coughed up water, his throat burning, the contentment and warmth disappearing in a flash as he cursed as much as his lungs would allow.

"Where am I?" he asked once he caught his breath.

One of his saviours kneeled beside him and said, "You're on Destiny Island." As Sora sat up, scratching the back of his drenched head, his eyes were met with the sight of a pair of matching blue eyes, watching him carefully, shock written all over the other's face. And all Sora could think was, 'It worked! It actually fucking worked!' Hope soared in his heart. He was back on his home, the home he thought was gone for good. There before him was a younger version of himself, carefree and innocent, still living a blissfully ignorant life to the horrors that awaited him in however many years they had left. Which brought Sora to his next question.

"What year is it?" he asked quickly.

"Excuse me?"

"The year! What year is it?" The force it took to say that much caused Sora to start coughing again, trying to get the leftover water out of his airways.

"2006! It's 2006!" The hope that had just conquered Sora's heart quickly diminished, leaving behind the scorn and jadedness he always felt. He was a year too late. Maleficent would have already started building her army by now, eliminating the element of time and surprise right off the bat.

"Shit…" He collapsed backwards, feeling his strength leaving him and the urge to sleep beckoning him. "It's supposed to be 2005…" But maybe it could still be salvaged. As he slipped back into an unconscious state, he thought, 'There's still time. I can still save everyone…'

_I can still turn back the hourglass…_

…

~End

A/N: And there you have it! Done! I guess you could say, with the way this ended, this is almost like a prequel to Hourglass. So now that you've read this, if you haven't read Hourglass yet, go do so! :D Anyway, thank you to all of you who made it this far and a special thanks to those of you who took the time to leave a review. Much appreciated! A big thanks to my beta-readers, Mutantpenguins, ILoveToDrum, and EternalDreamer! Without you guys, I'd be missing a ton of commas. :D I got one last Post-Hourglass fic coming your way. Check my profile for it! Until next time!


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